Aquarius: A Zabuza Momochi Love Story
by HiddenXEmotion
Summary: Satomi has been running from her past for years, staying close to her new life but when her Partner, Zabuza, come across what she's kept hidden she finds herself being dragged back to the horrors of her childhood...and further away from the man she loves.
1. Chapter 1

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**Without Further ado for all my Ninja fans, here is my next story**

_**Chapter One**_

_**Runaway**_

"**Stop! Leave me alone! Stop it! Please!"**

Her heart was thumping in her ears. Her lungs hurt. Her legs were tired. The wound in her side stung. She felt like she had been running for hours, her attackers chasing her still, but in truth it had only been minutes. Her father's voice called after her, telling her to come back, but the 7-year-old child just continued to run as the rain seemed to hit her like bullets. She wanted to stop, to rest, to catch her breath, but she knew what would happen if she did that. She refused to be captured again, and so, she continued to run. She ran as hard and as fast as she could. She didn't know how he was outrunning the four behind her but she wasn't going to stop to find out.

Satomi Gen was freezing and she was getting tired but she refused to stop. Now was not the time to stop! She had fought so hard to break away and she wasn't going to waste her chance to stay free. She continued to run but her foot was caught by an upturned root, resulting in her landing on her face. Fear enveloped her as she pushed herself up on her knees, wrapping her arms around herself. This was the end. She was going to get caught and killed, or even worse, taken back. She would rather die than go back!

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Satomi screamed. Wind grew fierce around her, like blades as it hit the men that were trying to grab her. Screams erupted as fingers flew and blood splattered. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" With her second scream, the wind got worse and larger. She couldn't hear anything from outside the vortex that she was in and she closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the blood that began to twirl around her with the wind. She didn't know how long she sat there inside the vortex but it eventually powered down, leaving the small child just sitting there, quivering in rain and blood. She was exhausted, barely able to keep her eyes open. She fell forward. The blood loss had weakened her and she wasn't going to be able to move on any further now. As her face hit the ground she watched as a pair of feet walk towards her before her eyes rolled up into the back of her head.

_**~Say my name  
>So I will know you're back you're here again, for a while<br>Oh let us share the memories that only we can share  
>Together<br>Tell me about~**_

**Satomi woke up warm, her head light and spots fluttered across her vision when she opened her eyes. **She was inside somewhere, she could tell by the sound of the rain beating down on the ceiling above her and the warmth of the fire beside her. Slowly moving her hand, she found that the wound in her side had been wound up. She was in bed and that relieved her. It meant that she hadn't been caught. Someone had saved her.

"Oh, you're awake." A voice sounded through the room. "About time." Satomi turned her head to see those same feet before she glanced higher. It was a young man with blue skin and small, white yes that was now crouching beside her in black and blue. There was a Mist village headband on his forehead and a smile on his lips. "Are you all right?"

Satomi stared at him for a moment. She had never seen a man with blue skin before. "Yeah…" She slowly pushed herself up, wincing at the stinging in her side.

The man reached out to help her up but she flinched away. He pulled back and glanced the child over. She had medium red hair and green eyes. Her ripped clothes were old and dirty, their color of yellow now faded and old as some scars could be seen over her arms and legs. He frowned with distaste in his mouth. Something was telling him that the child had gone through a lot.

"Can you tell me what happened? What were you doing in the forest? Who were the ones that were…around you?" She stayed silent, refusing to look at him. He pulled a face. He had been thinking to himself since he had found her, thinking about whom her attackers had been, and now he found out that he had been right. "They were your family, weren't they?" Satomi tried to stay calm but her tears burst out and she covered her face. The man was still for a moment before awkwardly patting her on the back. At his touch, the young child jumped at him, burying her face into his shirt. He froze again before giving a sigh and wrapping an arm across her back. The two of them stayed there like that as a small, sad smile spread out across the man's face. "Come on, let's get you something to eat." He stood up and turned towards a door, disappearing behind it as Satomi wiped the tears from her face. When he returned he had a glass in his hands and a sandwich on a plate in the other.

"Who are you?" She asked softly, taking the food from him.

The man sat down on the other side of the fire, giving her a smile. "The name's Kisame Hoshigaki!"

"Kisame?" Satomi tried the name on her tongue as she continued to think to herself. "Where are we?" She asked him. "What's with the headband? What does the symbols stand for?"

Kisame's mouth fell open in silence for a moment before he closed it. "You mean…you don't know? About anything? You don't even know where you are?" Satomi hung her head and Kisame rubbed the back of his neck guiltily. "All right, listen to me, okay?" The girl lifted her head and nodded as he folded his hands on her knees. "We're on the outer skirts of the Kirigakure, or 'Village Hidden by Mist' in the Land of Water."

Satomi clung to his words as he continued to tell her everything. She found it fascinating, never having heard any of this before. "So…you're a nunji?" She asked him.

"A NINJA," Kisame growled, hiding a smirk. "Most of the people in the Mist Village are Ninja," His voice then grew dark. "and by what I saw earlier, you and your…'friends' are ones too."

Satomi lowered her head again. "I…I don't know what they were trying to do to me," She told him. "I just trained like they…they wanted. If I didn't, they would…" She shook her head, refusing to let her tears fall again. "I…I didn't want to but they made me!"

Kisame stared at her in silence for a moment, anger clearly radiating off of him. This was a child. How dare they do something like this to her, no matter what it was or what it was for. He didn't care who it was that had done this; if he ever found them he would kill them. "Well, that's not going to happen to you here, you can trust me on that."

Satomi glanced at him in silence for a moment. She really didn't know what to think but what could she do? She had never been outside her 'village' before so she had nowhere to go. If this man was planning on doing something to her, would he have wasted his time in healing her? She took a roll of the dice and nodded her head. "What…what do I do now?"

That took Kisame a moment to think before an idea burst into his mind. "I have an idea." He grinned. "I have a child about your age that I'm training at the moment, and with your Kekkei Genkai you'll be a natural at being a Ninja!"

"K-Kekkei Genkai?" Satomi looked at him, as if longing for information.

If Kisame was growing annoyed in having to explain everything to the young girl then he wasn't showing it. "Kekkei Genkai is a technique that one can only obtain through their bloodline of specific Clans. Each type in the clan can sometimes be special amongst their own family," His thoughts were growing darker as to why their child was beaten like she had been. Kekkei Genkai were still seen as disgusted in Kirigakure. "But I'm going to have to help you keep that power hidden."

"Hidden?" Satomi titled her head. "Why?"

He didn't know if she would understand the reasons as to why at such a young age. "Just trust me, Satomi," Kisame told the child softly. "Keep your Kekkei Genkai a secret. Bad results can come from letting people learn of it."

"Are…are you one of those people?" She asked him.

The blue man gave her a small smile. "No, it doesn't bother me at all. If you have something like that due to your bloodline, it doesn't matter to me." Satomi nodded her head. She glanced at the food he had brought her again before finally deciding to take a bite out of it. At the taste of the fish, the sandwich was gone in seconds, resulting in Satomi blushing as her stomach growled for another one. He grinned and stood up. "You want another one?"

"If…if that's all right."

"Don't be so bashful," Kisame told her. "If you want something, just tell me. If I got it, you can have it."

"Do you have something for me to change in to?" Satomi called to him.

Kisame was silent for a moment before he brought her another sandwich. "No, I doubt anything of mine will fit you but I'll get you something new to wear in the morning before I take you to my student. You'll be all right with training, won't you?" Satomi winced at the thought of training and Kisame had a good idea as to why. "Don't worry," He placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be nothing like…like last time. I promise. You're not going to be treated like that anymore."

Satomi looked at him in silence again before a true smile broke out across her lips. "Okay." She continued to eat as the blue man sat across from her again. "Will I get a funny headband like yours?"

"It's not funny!" Kisame growled at her playfully. "A bunch of us wear it!" He replied. "Eventually, I'm sure that you will, if you like what I'm about to introduce you to."

Satomi nodded, taking a slow drink from the glass before her. "Your…your student," She began after a while. "What are they…they like?"

Kisame searched his brain for a moment, trying to find a way to explain his student without freaking the young girl out. He definitely wasn't going to tell her HOW he had become his student. "He's, uh, different from other students. He does take some getting used to though, so you might not like him at first, but that's understandable. Even I didn't like him at first."

"But you do now?"

"Yeah," Kisame nodded. "He grows on you after a little while. You'll see what I mean tomorrow." He stood up. "Try to get some more rest now, all right? Call me if you need anything; I'll be right in the next room." He turned to leave but her voice caught him.

"Thank you," She whispered. He turned to see that she had already laid back down and rolled her back to him. Kisame gave a large smile before disappearing into his room, leaving his door open just a crack; just in case.

**Can you guess who Kisame's taking her to meet? roflmao**

**Really quick, I would appreciate it if you guys went to my profile and gave your vote on my poll. It would really help and I would love you guys for the rest of eternity if you did so, :)**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**I am so glad that you guys from Madara's story decided to come and read this and as for you newcomers, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Meeting**_

"**I'm not wearing yellow." **Satomi's voice was cold and plain as she glared at the tall man before her.

"Aww, come on! We need you in a change of clothes and yellow would look so adorable on you with your hair." Kisame told her.

Satomi had been taking a bath when Kisame had returned from…wherever it was that he had been too. He was holding up an outfit of white and yellow for her as she sat there in a bathrobe.

"I'm not wearing it," She told him again.

"Why not?" Kisame frowned.

"It's too…too bright. It's not…what I'm used to," She glanced away as she answered him.

Kisame stared at her for a moment with a soft smile before he placed the outfit back in the bag and pulled out a matching one, this time in a pale red. Satomi stayed silent for a moment before standing, taking the outfit from his hands, and disappearing into Kisame's bedroom to get dressed. He gave a sigh and went to the kitchen to put his supplies away. He had decided that Satomi would be living with him for a while. After what he had found out about where this child had come from he couldn't just throw her out onto the streets after saving her. So he went out and spent this money on clothes and food and a few other things for her; just in case.

Kisame could not allow where Satomi came from to be announced out to anyone in his squad. Not even to his student. That would bring forth a lot of problems and that was NOT what he needed at the moment.

~So~ Kisame grinned to himself. ~I've adopted a pet~ He had no idea why he was grinning about that but at the moment he really didn't care. The two of them had to leave though. His student had quite the anger problem if he arrived before his teacher.

"Satomi," He called as he opened the front door. "We need to leave." The young girl walked out in silence, her wet hair hanging loosely around her. It looked like streams of blood rolling down the side of her face. He gave her a smile and began to lead the way.

In all truth, Kisame didn't know why he had been given a student, let alone just ONE instead of THREE like a regular squad. Then again, considering what this single child had done on his own, putting him with others wasn't such a good idea; especially if he killed them all. Was it a good idea to be introducing Satomi to him? Perhaps he would try to kill her for her Kekkei Genkai. What would he do then?

Kisame led her into the trees behind his home, Satomi had been expecting they're meeting would happen in a place of more people, not a forest, but she stayed silent just following the blue man before her. She didn't know how to feel as they traveled through the trees. She had never been outside of her home before. All she knew was that large room she was always trained in. What was it that she was supposed to know? How was she supposed to act around other people? Something told her that she wasn't to attack; Kisame never moved towards her like the others she had seen did. Did that mean others would move like he did? Or was she to be attacked like she had been before?

She prayed that that wasn't the case. She didn't really want to have anything to do with fighting anymore, but what else did she know? What else was there that she could do? Here she was, only seven, and she was already worrying about what was going to happen with the rest of her life. In fact she had never even thought about it before. All that was on her mind since she could remember was what her father had told her to do. What she went through every day. At night, after being returned to her cage, she thought up new ways to protect herself during the fight that she knew she was going to endure the next day. What else was there for her to think about? What did a seven-year-old think about? What books did they read? What food did they eat? What did they wear? What did they do every day? Did they play together? Talk together? What did they talk about? What did they play? Questions and Questions flowed through her head to where Satomi felt like she was going to explode.

"Hey," Kisame's hand dropped on her shoulder and she jumped before lifting her head to look at him. "Calm down. There's nothing for you to freak out about. Just stay calm and act natural."

"Act natural?" Satomi commented softly. "Forgive me if I don't know how you others all act."

Kisame sighed and scratched the back of his head. "That's not what I meant. I mean…uh…" He was silent for a moment before his smile came back. "You've been acting fine so far, so don't worry. The more in touch with others you become the more you'll find yourself acting…normal, if that word doesn't bother you. Keep everything about what had happened in silence though, okay? Kekkei Genkai is not very welcome around the others." Satomi stared at him for a moment before nodding her head. "Don't worry, you'll fit in sooner than you know it." ~Hopefully she won't turn into another-~

"Kisame! It took you long enough!"

Kisame sighed and turned his attention back ahead of them. ~Into another _that_~ Satomi's head turned as well to see the figure that stood before her. She bit her lip to keep herself from jumping behind the blue man beside her. It was a young boy, about her age if she could say that. He had short, black, spiky hair with brown eyes and small eyebrows. (There's just something about those eyebrows. If you did something to them it would just mess him up completely, XD) He wore a similar headband like Kisame did, his straps were just longer as he wore it sideways on his head. In the sandals, a pair of black gloves, a black pair of shorts and a tan shirt, the young boy was glaring at the two of them.

"Who the hell are you?" The boy growled, putting his hands on his hips as he took notice of the young girl beside his Sensei.

"Ahh, Satomi, this is my student, Zabuza Momochi. Zabuza, this is a new friend of mine, Satomi."

"Z-Zabuza?" Satomi tried the name for a moment as she gazed at the other child. The young boy stared at her for a moment, anger clear on his face, before he turned back to the other man.

"I'll have you know that you're late again, Sensei. It's the fourth time in a row. What took you so long?"

"Well," Kisame grinned. "I had a surprise visit from my niece this morning!" He waved a hand over Satomi. The girl's face stayed blank as she continued to look over the new boy.

Zabuza raised an eyebrow as he gave her another look. "Your niece? I didn't know you had family."

"There's a lot that you don't know about me," Kisame growled in annoyance as he took a step forward. "I expect that you practiced the jutsus I gave you?"

"Of course."

Satomi sat on a fallen tree trunk, watching as Kisame and Zabuza fired off jutsus and other types of attacks. It felt so much different being on the other side, watching the fights instead of being in the fights. This was nothing like what she had gone through. Kisame didn't run at Zabuza with his Kunai with intent to kill. He was training him. It was all new to her. As she continued to watch it, Satomi began to feel an urge inside of her to wanting to jump into the training. She had never watched before. She was always in the middle of it. Now that she was watching she wanted to jump into it.

Why was that? Is that all that she was good for? Fighting? That was all that she knew. She had only learned to read because her 'father' would give her scrolls to learn. She only knew to talk through calling out her jutsus. She only knew how to write to perform her own moves. All of it was involved with fighting. All she wanted was to get free and not have to fight anymore. She killed so many people, went through so much trouble to escape from them, from what they had done to her since she could remember. But now, at this moment, she wanted to join back in again. She had the urge to join in with the two before her. She gripped her knees, digging her nails into her legs as she refused to let herself move.

"Are you all right?"

Kisame's voice made Satomi pull herself out of her thoughts. She hadn't noticed that the two of them were taking a break now. Kisame had brought some food and was sitting beside her, holding out a sandwich to her as Zabuza sat in the middle of the clearing in front of them, ripping into what he had brought with him.

"Yes," She answered him as she took the sandwich. "I was just…thinking."

Kisame watched her for a moment before staring off into the trees as he ate. "It's different than what you went through, right?"

She glanced at him again before turning back to the sandwich that she held in her hand. How could he read her? And easily, too? They had just met. Was it because she was a child? "Yeah…"

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened," He was keeping his voice low to keep his student from getting involved. "I can't begin to imagine what it was like but there is something that I can tell you. What they did to you, what they made you go through, was wrong. I don't know why they were teaching you how to fight but I can tell you why I fight. Why I'm teaching Zabuza to fight. The two of us are training to protect our people."

"The…Mist Village?" Satomi looked at him again, her sandwich cleared from her hand.

"Yes. Believe it or not, but there are people inside this village that are important to me. Zabuza's a little different than anyone else I know but over the last few months he's become special to me as well and I'm sure, the longer you stay near me, the more important to me you will become."

"Stay near you?" Satomi's eyes widened before shrinking again. She hadn't even began to think about what she was going to do now. What could she do? All she knew how to do was… "This…nunja that you are,"

"NINJA," Kisame corrected her again with a smile.

"Ninja," She repeated. "Any…any one could become one?"

"Well, yeah, though not everyone is. It's sort of like a career. It's a choice though, Satomi. So you'll have to think about it before you decide."

"What else do I know?" She scowled to herself as she looked at him. "Other children were taught other things by their parents, weren't they? Taught to care for eachother and have their own choices in what they want to do. They weren't attacked like I was or trained like I was. They weren't kept in a cage!" Her voice rose for a moment and she noticed Zabuza's head lift up as he looked at them, an intrigued look on his face. She lowered her voice. "But if what I already know…if it can help others…that might not be so bad. Maybe…"

Kisame placed a hand on her head and shuffled her hair. "Don't rush anything, Satomi. Just think about it and if you want me to add you to my Squad with Zabuza, I don't think the others will have a problem with it."

"Just how many of you are there?" She asked him.

Kisame gave a laugh as he stood up. "It's a village, Satomi. There are many people here. I'll have to take you some time." He gave her a grin as she stood up beside him. "You'll probably run into more kids your age." He placed his hand on her head again. "No one's going to treat you like the others did."

"Tch," Zabuza's snort made both of them turn to see that the boy had moved closer to them, his arms crossed across his chest. "All you girls do is complain. None of you like fighting and that makes you useless in my opinion."

Satomi's face stayed stone but her eyes narrowed as Kisame rolled his eyes. "You only say that because you're a boy, Zabuza. When you get older you will find out just how strong women can be."

Zabuza gave another snort before turning away. "Whatever."

Kisame gave a sigh before removing his hand from Satomi's head. "So, shall we continue?" He glanced at her. "Would you like to join us this time or just continue to watch?"

Satomi stared at him in silence for a moment before a small smile broke out onto her face. "I think…I think I'll just watch today and…think about it tonight."

Kisame wore a smile himself as he nodded; both of them ignored Zabuza's comment of 'girls being weak' again. "All right. Don't rush yourself and think it completely through and don't double think your final decision, understand?" Satomi nodded.

Zabuza watched the two of them for a moment longer before he rolled his eyes and walked away a bit. "Come on, Sensei. Stop wasting time. You can talk to her after I leave."

Kisame rolled his own eyes before following his student. "You need to learn when not to speak, Zabuza. Now," He placed his hands together in hand signs. "You said that you wanted to learn the Silent Killing Technique, correct? Normally it is the only the Seven Swordsman of the Mist Village that learn this but what harm can be done with that? But before you can do that you have to learn the Kirigakure Jutsu."

~Hiding in Mist Technique~ Satomi felt adrenaline pumping in her veins again. This was what her father had been teaching her before she had run off. She closed her eyes as she felt the mist rise up from her feet.

"Now, pay attention to what I say," Kisame's voice came to her. "No one can hear a sound from you when you're doing these. Not a step. Not a click. Not a breath…"

**Okay, so I don't really know how Zabuza acted when he was a kid so I hope him being an ass to Satomi in the beginning doesn't piss you guys off!**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**MoonDancer89: He did sorta seem like Sasuke, didn't he? XD**

**Okay, FYI, Zabuza might be a little OOC in this chapter but like I said, we don't know how he acted as a child. Just roll with it, yeah?**

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Acceptance**_

"**Not too bad. **And for a child, too. I didn't think that learning the Kirigakure technique would be so easy. I'm very impressed."

Satomi grinned happily as Kisame rubbed a hand over her head. To hear him say that made her extremely proud of herself. Before, with her family, it had always been 'do better' or 'we need more'. This was something entirely different.

It had been a little over two months that Satomi had been found my Kisame and already, this man had taken the role of the older brother that she had always wanted to take care of her. She had agreed to join in with Zabuza's training, against the young boy's objections, but that wasn't all that Kisame was helping her with. This man was teaching her everything. He would bring her home books when he had to go off on missions alone. He was teaching her how to write, how to cook. She kept the house clean and in order as a repayment but there was nothing that she could do at this moment to add up to all that this man had done for her.

The only thing that she didn't like about all of this was what Kisame now called her partner. Zabuza didn't like her at all and so he would always make these horrible comments that Satomi always found herself getting angry about. That was the only reason that she didn't like training. But today was something special. Today, Satomi was going to meet Kisame's Squad. The man that she was going to meet today was apparently the one that was going to either allow or refuse to let her become a nunja…I mean, Ninja. Today was the only day that she wasn't going to let Zabuza make her angry.

"She's not that good." Came the boy's voice from a few feet away. Today, Zabuza was wearing something that Satomi had never seen before. He had taken bandages and wrapped them around his neck and face, hiding his mouth. Why he had done that she had no idea and even though she wanted to make fun of him she, secretly, found it to be sorta cool.

In all truth, Zabuza annoyed the hell out of her with his snide remarks and his actions and how he would always want to fight her, but there was just a little something that made her feel attached to him. Perhaps it was because this was the only other child that she had met. She felt attached to him and Kisame since they were the first outside of her family that she had come into contact with. That could explain a lot with how much she put up with from the young boy.

"Actually, she's quite incredible," Their guest sounded pleased and they turned to him as he walked towards them. It was an elder man, Kisame's master in fact, who was wearing a very large grin on his face as he approached his student. "And this is your niece, you say Kisame?"

"Yes sir!" The blue man nodded with a grin of his own. "She's going to be living with me from now on. There was an…an accident." He told the elder man lowly.

The man nodded his head. "Of course of course. And you say that she's never done jutsu before?"

"Not that I've known of. She didn't even know what a ninja was. Her mother, my sister didn't want her daughter to take after me so made me promise to keep my…line of work…a secret." Kisame grinned at Satomi as she looked up at him.

~He lies a bit too well~ she commented to herself with an inward frown.

"It's amazing," The man took another look at the child. "Already this much power and only a child. A Prodigy, it would seem. Do you truly believe that training her with," He glanced at Zabuza for a moment. Satomi raised an eyebrow. "Him is going to be such a good idea?"

"She's with me. She'll be fine." Kisame wore a frown, not liking what the man had said.

As Kisame continued to talk to the man, Satomi took notice of Zabuza stalking away. Feeling that she shouldn't be there while they were talking, she decided to follow the boy that was now her partner. She could tell that there was something wrong with, but she didn't know what. Was he just tired? Was she thinking too far into it? Should she just leave him alone? She probably should have but when she caught up to him and found him crying she couldn't turn away.

Zabuza had placed his back against a tree. Its roots were above ground and seemed to make a little nest around the young boy as he silently cried. He had pulled the bandages he wore off of his face so it would be easier for him to breath and all of the ninja tools that he had were flung out across the roots of the tree. Satomi didn't know why, but she saw an image of herself sitting like that, the roots taking up the forms of the cage that she was kept in. She slowly moved towards him and knelt in front of him before throwing her arms around him.

Zabuza froze for a moment. It seemed like he was fighting with himself before he shoved her away from him. "What do you want?" He snarled. "Why don't you just go back to your little friends and let them praise you some more?"

"Zabuza…" She closed her eyes for a moment. "Won't you tell me what's wrong?" The pain she was feeling, rippling off of this boy, was this the pain that had been flowing from her over these years? She wasn't sure but she WAS sure that she didn't like the feeling. Not one bit and so she wanted to make it go away. To make it just disappear and not come back.

"Why do you care?" He grumbled, tightening his fists.

"Was it what that man said? Just ignore him, Zabuza. What he says-"

"Just shut up! What do you know!" Zabuza wiped his tears away. "All they did is pit them against eachother! To kill them all! And when I give them what they want they send me off on my own! I was looking for acceptance! Not rejection! All they gave me was some stupid name! 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'? What was all of this for!" His voice went on and on. "Whenever anyone sees me they run off! They don't come near me! I'm like a monster! I just…I just did what they wanted and look what is gave me back! Look!" Satomi knelt in front of him and grabbed his shoulders, yanking his head up and pulling him into another hug. He struggled to be let go of again but she held on as hard as she could, refusing to release him.

"You are not a monster, Zabuza." She told him firmly. "How dare you call yourself that! You are nothing like they are!" Satomi snarled at the images of the ones that had kept her in that cage, attacked her, beat her. "Monsters don't cry, Zabuza! Monsters don't feel! Stop feeling pity for yourself and stand up tall! Let them call you a monster all they want! Just know that you aren't one. If they're so afraid of you, then give them a reason to be! Grow stronger, get better, and then make them truly fear you! Make them pay for what they did to you!" At that time, Satomi did not realize that she was also talking to herself about her 'parents' but in the years to come, she would realize what she had said.

Things were silent for a moment as the two of them just sat there before the boy pulled away from her again and stood up. She glanced at him.

Zabuza looked at her before pulling the bandages up over his mouth. "Let's go, Satomi."

She was struck in awe for a moment, that was the first time that he had used her name, before smiling and standing up. They walked back towards their training ground in a peaceful silence. Kisame had been waiting on them, a pleased look on his face to see that they came back together. His friend wasn't there any longer.

"I had wondered where you two had run off to." He grinned when they stopped in front of him. "I have a surprise for you, Satomi."

"A surprise?" She titled her head a bit. "For me?" She was silent for a moment. "What's a surprise?"

Zabuza let out a snort but stayed silent as she gave him a look. Kisame gave a chuckle. "Just close your eyes." Satomi did so before she felt something drop around her neck. She glanced down to find a headband like Zabuza's, just a bit shorter, hanging there. "All right, member number three, what do you want for dinner tonight?"

Satomi was still for a moment. She knew what this headband meant. "I'm…I'm a nunji?"

"A NINJA," Kisame repeated himself. ~Why does she call us Nunji?~ "And yes, you are. You don't need to go through the Academy of anything if you're training under me. It's sort of a 'good-luck-with-my-training' deal." He barely finished his sentence before his 'niece' jumped on him and knocked him to the ground. He chuckled, rubbing his hand through her hair. "I'll take that as a 'I'm happy'?"

"Yeah!" Satomi giggled. She felt ecstatic. She had chosen to continue fighting, on her own. She wasn't being forced to do this and to be accepted by the others…by Kisame and Zabuza, it made everything just seem…right. She found herself wondering…just what was going to come her way in the future years?

**A little short, but there you have it. Next one soon! :)**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

_**Cloudy Momochi: I'm glad that you didn't think that I did a bad job with him as a child. I wasn't too sure on how to do him but it seemed to work out pretty good! I try to update alot but School's been in the waty for like the last month**_

_**JJ-Jefferu: I am really happy that you have dicided to read yet another of my stories and i hope that my work keeps you around!**_

_**Tia Minx: Hey! It's been a little while! I know that the first couple of chapters are going to be slow but they're about to pick up and get good, I promise!**_

_**Chapter Four**_

_**Surprise in the Mission**_

"**How many times have I told you not to rush on ahead of us?"**

"You two always take too long! I'm not just going to stand there and wait on you two!"

"Well, you better start doing just that, you brat!" The third voice joined in.

"Yeah? Who's gonna make me?"

"I will!"

"Oh really? I'd like to see you try!"

"Both of you; shut up!"

Kisame rubbed his temples as his two students fell silent, shooting glares at eachother. It had been 8 years since Satomi Gen had joined him and Zabuza Momochi. Satomi and Zabuza were great friends, though sometimes the two of them would get in horrible fights. Childish too, seeming as how they were both fifteen.

Satomi was now taller, about 5'10'. She had cut her red hair into something short (Have you ever seen Pink's video 'U and Ur Hand'? If so, picture the red wig she wore when she was beating up the punching bag, LOL. Look it up, it's actually really cute!). Her green eyes were multiple times sharper now as she ran around in long black pants and a long-sleeved shite shirt under a black vest. Her headband was tied around her left thigh, as she refused to 'wear that stupid thing' on her head. Her left eyebrow was pierced, the blue stone shining when the sun hit it.

Zabuza's height was 6'3' with his short hair and dark eyes. He had been wearing that bandages around his face for years; Satomi and Kisame both had done forgotten what he looked like now.

"Can't the two of you just settle down? We've still got a little ways to go before we catch up to the thieves. You can fight all the way back to the village afterwards, all right?"

The teens gave eachother a look before both crossed their arms and continued to walk forward. Kisame shook his head. Both of them were normally great together, but he could tell that it was coming. Zabuza was turning into…into some type of cold creature, taking up the name he had been given. 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'. He knew that the boy would go down that path and he didn't care too much. It would give him a good partner when Zabuza was older. It was the other one that he was worried about.

Satomi Gen had become this man's daughter. Kisame wouldn't admit that to anyone's face, but she had. Satomi had become a large part to both his and Zabuza's life. When she was younger she had first feared what would happen if she continued down the path of a ninja, but to be honest, that was all she knew. Kisame had helped her though. He led her down the path that he had taken himself, refusing to let her be used as a weapon like her 'family' had tried too. Only he knew about Satomi's Kekkei Genkai. She had refused to let Zabuza know and so Kisame had agreed to keep it silent.

Satomi's skills transformed over the years. She learned everything left and right. Kisame's Team Leader, Fuguki Suikazan, had made a comment about her learning to use a sword, to become one of the Seven Swordsman, but she refused that flat out. Fuguki thought she was being foolish, but Kisame knew why. The Swordsman was Zabuza's goal and he knew that Satomi refused to take it. Zabuza never said a word about it, of course, but that wasn't a chance that she was going to take.

"How much further is this group?" Satomi asked the blue man beside her.

Kisame gave a silent sigh before turning back to the path ahead of them. "And why are we after them again?"

"It's just some stupid mission about money and a bunch of other crap being stolen." Zabuza folded his arms behind his head as he led the way forward. "Completely unworthy the effort of dragging us all the way out here."

"It's a mission, Zabuza," Kisame told the teen. "Get used to it. You'll be dealing with all of these the rest of your life." Satomi gave a grin at the mumbled comment of 'having better ones in the future' from her partner. "They shouldn't be too much further ahead," The blue-man told her. "Let's get this over with so we can head back home and get something to eat. I wanna try that new sushi bar they opened up…"

Satomi continued to grin as Zabuza gave a grunt, both following their Sensei again. She was going to miss Kisame. He was leaving soon to do a mission with Fuguki Suikazan and the Cypher Division in the next few days.(Now, you guys should know what that means, right? :() She wasn't sure how long that he was going to be gone but she was going to have a surprise waiting on him when he returned; it was going to be March 18, whether before or after he returned, so his birthday surprise would happen the day he would return. She knew that he wouldn't be gone forever but still, she didn't like the thought of him leaving at all. She didn't like the thought of Zabuza leaving, either.

Zabuza had become something important to Satomi over the last eight years of being his partner. She couldn't see her life without him now. He was her best friend. One would think that she would see him as her brother but…he just didn't give off that vibe to her. She didn't understand what all these feelings were to her but she didn't care. As long as she had both Zabuza and Kisame with her, her life was perfect.

It was only a bit after midday that they reached who they were after. The Bandits that they were after were said to have stolen money from the bank (I don't know if they had banks in here, but they gotta, right?) and a few other things from around Kirigakure and by the looks of the cart they had with them, the reports were right. There were seven Bandits. They were quickly able to tell which one was the leader and from the looks of it, the group didn't seem to even notice that they were being watched.

~Stupid fools~ Zabuza grinned to himself. It was moments like this that the Silent Killing and Hiding in Mist techniques worked the best. Glancing over at Kisame, the blue man gave him a nod. Smirking large, Zabuza quickly disappeared, ready to begin the Mist Technique.

Satomi was still, a matching grin on her face as she watched the Mist rise from the ground. She was disappointed though. The seven bandits didn't even notice the Mist until it reached their knees. How could anyone be that stupid?

The three were nicely hidden, waiting until the Mist was finishes before they moved into the clearing. All three of them were greatly disappointed. They had been hoping for a challenge; the last three months had been nothing worth talking about for any of them. Satomi just hoped that Kisame's next mission with the Cypher Division was going to be more entertaining than these last few.

The three of them took down the first six in merely seconds. The three of them were almost pure perfection together when they worked like this (Training together for over eight years can do that).

It seemed that the leader of the little group was a bit faster than his other companions. And smarter too. He whipped out his own kunai, blocking Kisame's as he went to kill him. The mist covered his eyes for a moment as he twirled around, blocking another attempt; from Zabuza this time. Satomi's almost got him the third time but he let the blade pierce his hand, instead of his throat. He began to move forward for an attack with a roar when he froze, seeing Satomi's face.

"You…" the man looked at her closer before she planted a foot in his chest, knocking him back and out of the Mist. He pulled a smirked as he straightened himself back up. "It is you. I knew that I recognized you." Satomi had been about to run forward and kill the man but his words stopped her, leaving her hidden in the Mist. Kisame and Zabuza were still for a moment as well, listening to what the man was saying but ready to move at the same time if he tried to run or pull something.

"Recognized me?" She repeated.

The man's smirk changed, turning into one that told the young woman before him that the thoughts in his head were not something that she wanted to hear.

"You look just like Martia," The name made her freeze again. That name was familiar, but where had she heard it from before? "Your mother hardly does you justice."

That's when everything fell into place. Martia…that had been her mother's name…

An image of a small woman, with long red hair and green eyes popped into Satomi's mind. She was standing over her as the four-year-old child peeked up at her from behind the bars of her cage. The woman wore a sad look before a man came forward and pulled her away.

"You do know that they've been looking for you, right?" The Bandit grinned. "Have been for, about 8 years maybe? Secretly, of course. I wonder just how much money I would get if I were to tell them where you-" His voice stopped as a deep slash appeared on his throat. He hadn't even seen Satomi move; hadn't even felt her kunai pierce or rip through his throat as he spoke. Zabuza raised an eyebrow(if only he had some, lol) and watched as the final bandit fell to his knees before his face. He grinned at his death and turned to leave but noticed the look on Satomi's face. He couldn't explain it. She looked horrified. No…worse than horrified. There wasn't a word that he could think of that explained what his partner was wearing as she stared the men beneath her.

Kisame gave Satomi his own look. The older man knew that look on her face. He quickly grabbed her arms as she began to shake. Zabuza watched in silence and interest, but the others didn't notice him.

The Family…her family…they were…they were looking for her! Satomi hadn't thought about them in years! What…what was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to act to this? She wanted to just brush it aside and move on but something stopped her. Something made her shake as she stared down at the body beneath her. She couldn't move. All she could do was see those memories of her childhood before she met Kisame. The cage. The fighting. The beatings. The training. The blood…it all made her want to scream. It wasn't fair! Why? Why now? Why did this have to happen?

Satomi had thought that she had gotten free from everything that had been done to her, but it seemed that fate had other plans for her.

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**Tia Mix: I'm glad that you noticed that. I thought that making Zabuza act like that was perfect. Don't worry, things are about to start getting really really good!**

_**Chapter Five**_

_**Suspicion**_

**He just didn't understand it. **It was a couple of days later and Zabuza was on his way to Kisame's house to tell him good luck on this Cypher mission that he was being sent on. He was still thinking about what had happened on the last mission that the three of them had gone on. He wasn't sure on what had happened, something to do with Satomi's family, and the two of them weren't telling him anything. He had tried to ask Kisame, but his answers were refused.

He didn't know what was going on and it was starting to annoy him beyond belief. Kisame had never held a secret from him before so why would he start now? Of course Zabuza knew the answer to that question; he just didn't want to believe it.

He just hoped that this charade didn't go on for too much longer. Believe it or not, he hoped that things would just return to the way they had been. Kisame and Satomi were the only two that meant anything to him in this world and for the two of them to be hiding something from him…it was tearing him apart (though he would never admit that aloud). He just prayed his little world wouldn't fall apart. Ever.

Rolling his shoulders, Zabuza frowned. He hated wearing this vest but he was going to have to deal with it. It's what they wore. Maybe he should start wearing something else though; something without sleeves or along those lines. The mask, though, the mask was staying. It had been there since he was a child. It was like a second skin to his face. He felt naked without it when he took it off and so, when out in public, he always wore. When he was at home alone though, his face would be free to breathe. (Roflmao)

Home. He couldn't even call it that. Kisame's house was the home that he wanted. The home that he needed. The large building hidden out in the middle of the woods, no one who didn't know where it was could find it. Hell, he knew it was there and he still had some hard times trying to find it himself. It annoyed him and amazed him at the same time.

"You're late." Lifting his head mind from his thoughts, Zabuza found himself in front of the house he had just been looking for with Kisame with a smile and Satomi with an annoyed frown.

"Yeah, and?" He asked her, slipping his hands into his pockets. She gave him a look and crossed her arms.

"Leave him be, Satomi." Kisame told the teen beside him. "He can show up when he wants to. Hell, he didn't have to come."

"I know I didn't," Zabuza snorted. "She made me." He nodded at Satomi, who was now trying to hide a small little smirk.

Kisame made a curse under his breath as he scratched the back of his head. He was dressed in his normal vest as well, a backpack hanging from on shoulder as he stood there with the two of them, just talking until it was time for him to head out.

"Are you going to be able to do this without us?" Zabuza was asking him.

"Of course he will!" Satomi smiled. "If he can take care of the two of us then nothing should hold him back on this!"

"Shouldn't he be the confident one?" Zabuza looked at her as Kisame sweat-dropped.

"Promise that you'll be safe." Satomi told the blue man after she stuck her tongue out at her partner.

Kisame laughed. "I'll be fine. There's no need to worry. I can take care of myself." He clapped a hand on her shoulder. "But I do need you to take care of Zabuza. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Hey," Their companion growled, narrowing his eyes at the other two.

Satomi laughed as she nodded her head. "Of course."

Kisame then began to search through his pockets and pulled a face. "Damn. I forgot my scroll."

"I'll go get it," Satomi smiled and turned back to the house.

The blue man watched as she disappeared before turning to his other student. "Zabuza," Kisame's voice was hard now; serious. "Keep close to Satomi until I get back." He told his student.

The young man pulled a frown and crossed his arms. "What's going on? Why are you two so worried? What freaked her out like that the other day?"

Kisame shook his head. "Just…don't let her out of your sight, all right?"

Zabuza's frown stayed the same. "I don't like you hiding things from me, Kisame."

"Eh," Kisame shrugged. "You're going to have to get used to that, Zabuza. Not everyone is going to tell you everything about their lives. If you wanna know what happened then ask Satomi about it, not me." Zabuza crossed his arms with a frown. "Just…don't let anything happen to her."

"To who?" They turned to see that the redhead had joined them again.

"Eh, just a friend of mine in the village," Kisame covered up quickly. "She's due to give birth any time now and I just wanted to make sure that everything happened perfectly."

"Oh really?" Satomi looked intrigued as she handed Kisame his scroll. "Who is it? I can help while you're gone!"

"Just be careful out there," Zabuza told the blue man. "I don't want to have to hear about you getting killed by a group of old farts, got it? Just run and kill them in their sleep if you have to."

Kisame gave a laugh, pleased that his student had changed the course of the conversation. "I'll keep that in mind," He glanced at the sky and gave a sigh. "I have to go. Don't worry guys, I'll be back soon."

Zabuza and Satomi watched as their Sensei walked away from them. Satomi tilted her head to the side for a moment before turning to her partner. "So…do you want to do something or…something?"

Zabuza glanced at her for a second before walking away. "You need to get to sleep. You and I have a mission tomorrow and I don't need a half-dead partner." He didn't turn to look at her again but there was just this little pinch in his head that was telling him that he shouldn't have said that to her. He knocked it away quickly, thinking about what Kisame had told him.

_**~If you could only see the way she loves me **_

_**Then maybe you'd understand **_

_**Why I feel this way about our love**_

_**And what I must do~**_

"_**Get away from her!" **__Satomi's voice rang through Zabuza's ears. He tried to move but found his body extremely heavy. There was a sound of a blow landing and a cry before a growl joined in, followed by another cry and something that sounded like a skidding across the ground. "Haku! Fumiko!" Satomi screamed again. "Leave them alone, you bastard!"_

_Someone else gave a few tsk's. "Satomi, poor thing. After all that I had done for you, you're still too weak. And after all this time I thought that you would have made me proud. It seems that my brother had been right."_

"_I don't care what you say!" Satomi growled. "I-" there was a sound of another blow and Satomi fell silent. _

_Blood was all over the place, as was sweat. Zabuza finally found enough strength to open his eyes. They grew wide in shock at the sight of the body beneath him; it was moments later that he realized that it was his. Kunai and shuriken were littered all over him, blood littering all over his clothes. At his feet was a massive broadsword shaped like a giant butcher knife. He knew what that was. It was the Kubikiribocho, one of the swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Lifting his gaze, he felt what blood he had left run cold. They were in a dark warehouse, he didn't know where, but there were dead bodies all over the place. The only ones who didn't seem to be dead were Satomi, a redheaded man that stood over her, two young children towards the side of the warehouse and himself._

_Why the two children were there, Zabuza had no idea. He watched for a moment as the young, brown-haired boy crawled to the bleeding girl with auburn hair. Satomi was curled up on the floor at the feet of the red-haired man, holding her face as blood seeped through her fingers. She pulled herself away from him but the man stepped after her. _

"_I am truly disappointed in you, Satomi. I had thought that you would powerful. A weapon that I could use to take control. Something I could use to lead this village into glory! Instead you ran and turned into this weak little thing that I see before me. Pitiful thing. I must have used the wrong woman. Martia was weak and in the end it seems that you are too."_

"_Weak…" Satomi pushed herself to her feet, stumbling as she straightened herself up. "I am anything but weak…I may not want to be used as a weapon for the likes of you, you bastard, but I am not weak! If I were weak, I wouldn't have ran all those years ago! I would have stayed in that cage, continuing to go through what you were putting me through. If I were weak, I wouldn't have made it this far! If I were weak," As she continued to talk, Zabuza heard her voice grow louder and a small wind picked up at her feet. He remembered this. As the wind got stronger and stronger, Zabuza couldn't help but give a little smirk. Why, he didn't know, but he did. He pushed his back against the wall behind him and pushed himself up weakly before leaning down and grabbing the blade. His feet were unsteady but he ran forward anyway, the blade in his hand as he headed towards the man while he was distracted by the woman in front of him. "If I were weak, then I wouldn't be able to kill you, father!"_

**Zabuza lurched up from his dream. **Sweat was dripping down his skin and his mouth was open as he breathed hard. ~What in the hell was that?~ He had never seen that man before, and he had never seen those two children before. Nothing made sense but at the same time, should it? Satomi had been older than she was now so was that just a dream or did it mean something?

Well, why would it mean something? It was just a dream and he shouldn't worry about it but at the same time, why had it felt so real?

Stumbling into his bathroom, Zabuza flipped on the light and splashed water on his face as he took deep breaths to calm his heartbeat. Who had those two little brats been? Haku and Fumiko? He had never heard those names before so what did they have to do with him or Satomi? And where was Kisame during all this? And the Kubikiribocho? Did that mean Zabuza was going to get the blade? Was it a sign that he was going to become a Mist Swordsman like he dreamed he would? Could that have been what all that had been about?

He shook his head again, throwing it all aside. He was just being stupid. It was a dream and that was all. He had to get back to sleep and get ready for that mission he and Satomi were going to be one while Kisame was gone. He would get accepted into the swordsman soon, there was no doubt about that.

As he collapsed back on his bed, he ran his hand over his face again before rolling over and shoving it into his pillow. He laid there for what felt like an hour but he didn't seem to be able to get back asleep. His mind kept slipping back to the dream. It was that redheaded man that was beating the hell out of Satomi and the children. Had he been the one that had hit Zabuza with all those weapons?

Trying to finally get it out of his head, Zabuza snorted. If he was ever to run into that man he would kill him before he even had the chance to wound him like that, whether or not he was truly an enemy of his or Satomi's.

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**I know that it's been a little while, my friends, but I had to finish my Bleach story first. I'm back now though, so don't worry, and I don't have to go back to school until the end of August so you know what that means, right? ;)**

**A bit short, but with good reason.**

_**Chapter Six**_

_**A Chance Meeting**_

**Kisame never returned. **They were never told why, but Satomi and Zabuza never saw their teacher again. Satomi had tried to go off and look for him but there was no sign of him until they heard that Kisame had become one of the Hidden Swordsman before abandoning the village.

For the last year or so it had just been Zabuza and Satomi completing Anbu missions either together or alone. A third member was not assigned and the two of them weren't really favorites of the other villagers, save for a few that seemed to be able to stand Zabuza's harsh words and actions(much like the Demon Brothers). But no matter what they did they were always together outside of their missions. Zabuza had taken Kisame's final words to him to heart but what had truly hit him had been that dream. He hadn't seen it again but he couldn't get rid of it replaying in his mind, either. He stayed near Satomi, waiting for that man with the red hair from his dream to show up. He was ready, but the man never showed up.

Zabuza supposed that the man was just a dream but he did keep an eye open. On their missions together the even from their last mission with Kisame didn't not repeat itself. Yes, everything seemed to be going well for the two of them.

"Don't hurt yourself," Zabuza told his partner as she got ready to leave. "I don't want to have to come looking for you in a few days."

"Aww, it's so sweet that you care, Zabu," She teased him with a grin. He hated it when she called him that.You know me, come on! I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you setting our house on fire like you did your eyebrows."

Zabuza's face turned red as he glared at the woman before him, sending a slew of curses at her. Satomi gave a wink and blew him a kiss before turning and heading off, leaving the cursing partner behind her.

That was right. Zabuza and Satomi now lived together in what had been Kisame's house. They didn't sleep together, no matter how much Satomi wanted to.

The young woman would gladly admit it to herself. There was a strange attraction that she felt towards her partner. Maybe it was because he was basically the only man that she had ever really been around (Kisame being more of a father figure) but she didn't question it. She had read enough love novels and movies to know what she was feeling. She just…didn't know how to tell Zabuza how she felt. She had her own fear of rejection just like those girls from the novels and the movies did.

So, instead, she planned on keeping silent and just going with the flow. Zabuza's birthday, August 15, was just three days away. That was one of the reasons why she had taken this certain mission. She was headed towards the Land of Lightening to kill some idiot but that wasn't what she cared about. She had a day to get there and a day to get back so that left one day to kill the man and quickly find Zabuza a wonderful birthday present. She had been with Zabuza over ten years now; she could find something that this man liked, right?

Of course she could. Hell, if she bought him a new roll of bandages for that mask he kept wearing she'd make him happy.

Think about the mask made Satomi frown a bit as she continued on her path. She hadn't seen Zabuza's face in years; he never let it be seen. Don't get her wrong, there was something extremely sexy about him wearing a mask, but sometimes she just wanted to see him face to face. She had thought about sneaking into his room at night to see him but she didn't want to risk being caught. It worried her that he didn't eat with her but he knew that he did since he took food into his room at night. Zabuza was just a weird guy and apparently…Satomi liked them weird.

All day, Satomi's mind traveled over what she was going to get Zabuza for his birthday. They walked over weapons and books and even a pet. She had absolutely no idea what her result was going to be until she convinced herself to just walk through the shops tomorrow. Something was bound to pop out at her there so she was pleased with that. Everything was going to be all right.

She was just about a mile away from Kumogakure that first night when, off in the distance was a soft, red glow. Knowing immediately that it was a fire, Satomi tensed herself. Maybe, hopefully, it was that man she was here to take care of. That was ease everything out for her in no time! Slipping up to the fire quietly, Satomi soon realized that she wasn't the only one doing so. Bandits could be seen all around her and the small little camp. The bandits didn't see her, but she could sure see them.

She could also see that the small woman sleeping in the camp was not the man she was after, either. She was going to turn and leave but something held her back. How could she just walk away and allow this woman to get captured or hurt or killed? That wasn't something that she normally would do. What kind of person would that make her? It would eat her for a long time if she did.

With a silent sigh, Satomi watched as the bandits attacked before jumping in and fighting them off. Seeing that their prey had an unexpected friend, most of them ran off, leaving only three beaten in the camp under Satomi's feet. The Mist Ninja jumped when she heard clapping and whipped around.

The woman looked like she was in her early 20's. At the height of 5'4' she had long, blonde hair in a braid and a pair of sharp, sapphire blue eyes. Dressed in pants of black and a light shirt of purple, there was a Waterfall Village Headband with a slash through it hanging around her neck while on her forehead was…another headband with the symbol of a Crescent Moon on it. This woman was a Missing Ninja.

"Not too bad, for a Mist Ninja," The blonde commented with a smile from her place on the ground. "I am thoroughly impressed."

Satomi looked at her wearily. This woman…there was a strange feeling pouring off of her. She couldn't tell that it was exactly but it was there. "Sleeping in the middle of nowhere without some type of guard is dangerous. Bandits will take advantage and next time someone might not be here to help."

"I knew they were there," the woman replied. "But I thank you, all the same." She gave Satomi a look. "It's not very often that you see a woman out here on her own."

"I can say the same for yourself," Satomi gave that Crescent mark another look. She had never seen nor heard of that before. Had some new village been created? If so, why and where?

"True." The woman leaned back down on the ground like she was about to return to sleep. Satomi went to walk away but something caught her, turning her back to face the other woman again.

"What's your name?"

The blonde sat up again and gave another smile. "Reina Saiko. Yours?"

That name was familiar. Satomi was sure that she had heard it somewhere before but she couldn't place her finger on where. "Satomi."

"Satomi…"

"Satomi Riri," She lied. Giving full names to people she didn't know was a bad idea. Maybe giving her first name was a bad idea as well. She thought for a moment more. "So…what exactly are you doing out here when the Kumogakure is right up the road?"

"I am actually headed towards the Mist Village but I can't seem to a way to the island. The man that sold me the map turned out to give me the wrong one and I was headed for some other place that I had never heard of before. I was on my way back to beat the hell out of him and just…decided to stop for the night." The woman told her. She took another look at the Mist headband that Satomi was wearing and another smile spread across her lips again, telling the younger woman that an idea was forming. "You don't think that you could help me, do you?"

Satomi thought for a moment. "All you need to do is head south and get to the Leaf Village. Someone there would be able to help you get to Kirigakure. I'd help you myself but I have a mission to finish."

"Pah," The woman waved her hand. "Why not just wait for you? Tell me what you have to do. I'll help."

Satomi raised an eyebrow, getting another abnormal feeling about this woman. "That's really not necessary…"

"Please, I insist. As a thank you for helping me." The woman told her.

Satomi was going to have to keep her eye on this one; just in case. "All right. It's not really too much of a deal; just killing some idiot from the Land of Lightning."

"Well, well, looks like we're going to be doing the same thing then, won't we?" Reina lay back down. "How funny would it be if it turned out to be the same person?"

Satomi felt that this was going to be a very, very bad idea. What in the hell was she thinking, agreeing to join up with this woman? She had no diea who she was or what was going to happen. If anything happened this was going to be all her fault!

**Now all my friends from Madara's story, if you remember, Reina was in the final two chapters, I believe. Her story will be here soon :)**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

_**Chapter Seven**_

_**Not too bad**_

**Reina was actually not too bad of a person like Satomi had been thinking. **She was extremely enjoyable to be around and very smart. The woman loved to watch Satomi, or anyone else, fighting more than she fought herself. But when she did fight she was good. Satomi was impressed and remembering who her partner was it was hard to impress her. She did love to talk though.

Reina was the oldest of three. Her youngest sister was at their village while the middle sister was traveling around somewhere out here. That's what Reina was trying to do and trying to find her sister turned out to be harder than she had thought that it would. Satomi wanted to ask what village she was from and why she was wearing the Waterfall headband with a slash through it but she didn't think that bringing up that conversation would be a good idea. Reina hadn't done anything but she just felt like it was none of her business. That didn't keep her thinking about it to herself, though.

She did like Reina being around and found herself rather disappointed when they arrived at Kirigakure a few days later. They had found the idiot that they both were looking for and it was just like Reina had commented. It was the same man. It had been over so quickly that Satomi led the way back to the Mist Village a day early; they took that day and made a quick pit stop in the Leaf Village for a day. It was there that she found Zabuza his birthday present. And he'd better like it.

"I didn't think that Mist would be everywhere." Reina commented as she stepped off of the boat.

"It is the Village of Mist, Reina." Satomi reminded her.

"Yeah, I know that, but come on! This is ridiculous! I understand that Sungakure and the sand due to the desert but, really? What the hell is up with all this mist? How can you idiots see in all of this? Do ya'll have x-ray vision or something?"

Satomi giggled and she shook her head. "You get used to it after a while. I do have to admit seeing the sunlight so brightly on the inlands was a surprise for me in the beginning. I had to buy to sets of sunglasses for the first day."

Reina gave a small laugh of her own before sighing again, starring off into the mist as she mumbled something under her breath before trudging further. "So, you know of an inn that I can stay at for the night?"

Satomi thought for a moment. "Yeah. It's not too far from mine and Zabuza's place."

"Oh?" Reina looked at her with a 'look'. "You and your partner live together, huh? I didn't know that this Zabuza fellow was _that _kind of partner."

Getting the implication, Satomi turned a bright red. "N-n-no! He's not-we're not- no! He's just my teammate. We just live together, that's it!" She gave a sad smile. "After out Sensei disappeared…Zabuza moved in so I wouldn't be alone." She gave a silent sigh. ~I think~

"Sounds like a sweet guy," Reina grinned, that look still on her face. "Do I get to meet him?"

Satomi lifted her head for a moment in surprise and thought for another moment. Would Zabuza mind if she brought someone over? She didn't see why not. "I suppose you could come over for dinner tomorrow night. But just give you a heads up, Zabu-"

"Satomi! You're back!" Satomi was cut off by the voice of a child before being rammed into by a short figure. She lost her breath for a second. "I'm so glad that you're safe!"

"Me too, Gozu" She gasped as he squeezed her tightly. "Now stop before you ruin that.

The child backed up with a large smile. Gozu was about the age of 12 with wild, dark brown hair and matching eyes as he was dresses in white and grey. On his right arm was a large, clawed gauntlet with a large chain that led their view to Meizu, his younger twin. Meizu had the same hair and eyes and the only way that Satomi could tell the two twins apart as by the Gauntlets, which Meizu wore on his left arm, and their personalities. Gozu was the calm and sweet one of the twins while Meizu was the hooligan.

"Did the two of you behave while I was gone?" Satomi smiled at them.

"Yep." Meizu told her but Gozu's answer was "No. Meizu decided it would be funny to draw on Zabuza's mask while he was sleeping earlier!"

"Shut up, Gozu!" His brother growled, pressing his knuckles on either side of his brother's skull.

"She's going to find out anyway when she sees it!" The other brother cried as he fell to the ground with Meizu on top of him.

"When she sees what?" Both boys froze at the deep voice behind them and turned to see Zabuza standing there.

Satomi took one look at Zabuza's face before she and Reina both burst out laughing. Reina grabbed the woman beside her so she didn't fall to the ground and begin to roll over. Meizu had drawn some…unmentionable figures of the bandages that Zabuza wore on his mask and from the look on the older man's face he had yet to look in a mirror yet.

Zabuza's eyes turned to the two women as they laughed at him. "What are you doing? And who is this?" He had taken notice of Reina's headbands as well.

"Buddy, you're gonna die," Reina laughed as she reached into her bag and pulled a mirror out. Satomi motioned for the brother to run and both of them quickly slipped off as Zabuza stared at himself in the mirror. Satomi gave more laughter as Zabuza turned and ran after the two boys and the laughter got even harder as Gozu tried to go one way and Meizu went another. They were still learning how to use the Gauntlets after all.

"Does he always wear that?" Reina asked, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Yep. For almost 10 years now. Haven't seen him without it since he put it on." Satomi nodded.

"So you don't know what he looks like now? Really? Too bad. He might be a cutie." Reina told her.

"Really?" Satomi glared at her. "Didn't we just get done going through this?"

Reina gave her a pat on the back as Zabuza returned to them. "I'm just teasing you, Satomi. Don't freak out."

"Who are you?" Zabuza demanded.

"This is Reina; I met her in the Village of Lightening. She's looking for her sister." Satomi answered him.

"So why is she here?" He asked her.

Satomi frowned. She knew that he was going to have a little attitude; he always did. "I was leading her here."

Reina tried to keep a straight face but she burst out into giggles again as she stared at his mask. "I'm sorry, I just can't."

Satomi gave a worried laugh, scratching the back of her head as Zabuza glared at the woman beside her. Trying to calm him down, Satomi remembered that today was his birthday and grabbed his bag. "Here," She held it out to him.

Reina's laughter fell short and Zabuza's anger fell. "What is this?"

"It's your birthday, isn't it?" She smiled at him. "I got you something while I was on my mission."

Zabuza stared at it for a moment before grabbing the bag in silence. She looked inside for a second. Satomi held her brother, just watching him before he closed the bag and looked back at her. "And just what exactly am I supposed to do with this? I don't see a sword anywhere around here, do you?"

Satomi glared at him. "Then why don't you do something about that?"

Zabuza looked like he was about to make a comment but his gaze shifted to Reina before he whipped around and walked away. Satomi frowned as she watched him but then she smiled as she noticed that he had taken the bag with him. "Big softie," She giggled.

"What was that for?" Reina asked, staring after him herself.

"Zabuza doesn't show his emotions; unless its anger now that I think about it. He wants to be one of the 'Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist' so I went ahead and got him the sword kit to show him that I'm still supporting him." Satomi smiled as they heard door slam shut off to the side. "He just doesn't know how to say thank you."

"I can see that," Reina grinned. "Now, how about that Inn now?"

Satomi led Reina to the Inn before letting her get settled and checking in with the Hokage about her mission. He was very pleased and then assigned her another one for the next time she wanted to go out of the village; as long as it was in the next few days. Satomi was extremely pleased when she reached home again. She was exhausted from all that traveling and she collapsed on her bed first thing without even taking notice of Zabuza waiting for her in the main room.

He had changed his mask, swearing the hunt the young 'Demon Brothers' (As he now took to calling the rascals) down and getting revenge. He was sitting in the main room, going through the polishing kit that his partner had given him when she walked in. He had opened his mouth to say something but lost his voice. She looked extremely tired and worn out. He normally would have said something but for some reason he just…didn't. He wanted to let her rest. He'd have to thank her for the gift some other time.

_**~Can't you hear the choir now?**_

_**Listen to the anthems we sing!**_

_**Can't you hear the slaughter house bells?**_

_**In the land of the Pigs**_

_**The Butcher is King!~**_

"**Where are you headed next?"** Satomi asked Reina.

It was the next night and Reina had joined Satomi and Zabuza for dinner like she said that she would. Zabuza didn't like the newcomer in his house too much but he kept silent as he watched the two of them eat. He would take his food into his room later. Reina had made comments about him and his mask and why he wasn't eating but he tried his hardest not to get mad and reply as Satomi giggled at it.

Reina shrugged. "I was planning on heading towards the Sand village next, actually."

Satomi raised an eyebrow. "Really? It seems that that is where I am headed on my next mission as well." She gave a small grin. "Funny, isn't it?"

"Funny? If you want to call it that." Reina nodded. "Would you like a traveling companion?"

The woman grinned. "Sure. The more the merrier, right Zabuza?"

The man in question scoffed from across the fire. "Leave me out of this. My mission is taking me to Konohagakure, not Sungakure."

"What are you going to the Leaf Village for?" Reina asked him.

Zabuza glared at her. "That would be none of your business." The man gave Satomi another glare before disappearing into his room. She sighed.

"You're partner…can be very rude. Reminds me of my friend Yukari a little bit." Reina grinned.

"I'm sorry. He doesn't…get along well with others." Satomi apologized.

"I can see that." The woman replied.

"So, you think that your sister might be in the Sand Village?" Satomi asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well, it's the next place to look on the list. I've checked Lightening, Leaf, and Waterfall, and now Mist. Sand is next in line. And believe me," Reina pulled a grin across her face. "When I find Reiko I'm going to murder her!" Satomi giggled at the woman beside her.

Things were silent for a moment as the two of them finished eating. Reina looked lost in her thoughts for a little while and Satomi didn't want to interrupt her. She was just about to get up and go to bed when the other woman stood up herself.

"I'm going to go back to my Hotel for the night. I appreciate the dinner."

"Not a problem. It was fun having company with another woman," Satomi grinned. "Normally it's just me and Zabuza."

"Yeah…about that…" Reina turned from the door. "After your mission to the sand village…what do you say about meeting a friend of mine?"

"A friend of yours?" Satomi raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Her village isn't too far north of the Sand Village; it's where my youngest sister is at; at the moment anyway. She, I guess you can say that she saved me and my sisters and that's why I work for her. Not as a repayment or anything but…you'll understand when you meet her. I think you'd like her. She's really, really something else."

"She is, huh?" Satomi cupped her chin for a moment. "What's her name?"

Reina grinned. "Azumi. Azumi Saya."

**So, guess who you'll be running into again in the next chapter ;)**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**Sorry, I know that it's been a little while but I got caught up with a new video game and couldn't stop playing it until I beat all the storylines. Now I wanna play it again! XD**

_**Chapter Eight**_

_**Azumi and the Crescent Village**_

"**It may not look perfect to you, but home is home." **Reina wore a smile as she stared down at the small village beneath them. Satomi looked at it herself but with a frown. It was a small village, if you could call it that. There were no more than twenty houses and she couldn't see any stores or restaurants or anything like that. The only unusual thing in the village, and she doubted that you could call it unusual, was the cave behind the largest house of the area. That and the barrier that she could feel around it. "Welcome to the Village of the Crescent Moon."

Satomi looked at the woman for a moment, her eyebrows raised. That answered her question on the headband that Reina had been wearing. "Really?"

"Trust me, this Village isn't like any of the others. In fact, I suppose that you could call it a Sanctuary, really, for one from other Villages. Azumi didn't create the name, me and my sisters did. She…Azumi is…" Reina then shrugged. "You'll see.

"What's with the Barrier?" Satomi asked her.

"Like I said, you'll see." Reina went to take a step forward but froze and just stared into the Barrier. Satomi was going to speak but froze herself when she saw a hand pass through it. It was followed by an arm, and then a chest. Someone was coming outside. Reina grinned. "Ah, Kari. I had a feeling that it was you."

Satomi watched the woman as she gave Reina a glare. Kari looked like she was in her late twenties with long white hair and pale tan eyes as she was dressed in long black pants and a pink top with white snowflakes. She felt strange as the woman looked at her. She had seen those eyes before while in the Leaf Village. This woman had to be a Hyuuga.

Kari frowned. "When my Aunt told me that you had brought a new friend with you I wanted to tell her she was crazy. It seems that I owe her an apology."

"Aww," Reina pulled a coy smile. "I'm just trying to help. Don't get mad because you can't leave the village anymore."

Satomi watched as the new woman pulled an enraged face before calming herself down. She had a good idea that Reina hit a low blow and that these two women didn't get along very well. Instead of replying to the blonde, Kari turned to the redhead, taking a good look at her.

"The Mist village, hmm," That comment was more to herself. "Who are you?"

"Satomi." The woman answered her.

"And why are you here?" Satomi opened her mouth to reply but realized that she didn't know why she was here. She looked at Reina to see that she was still wearing that playful look on her face as she looked at her nails. She glanced back to the Hyuuga; Kari sighed. "This way," She placed her hand against the barrier and a small portal Satomi could walk through appeared. "Azumi said it was all right for you to enter."

Reina smirked and walked into the village. "See, now was that so hard?"

Satomi couldn't help but roll her eyes at the other woman, trying to hide her laughter as they followed after her.

"Your sister is here," Kari told Reina. "She's with Amaya and Tamae."

Reina pulled a face before turning to Satomi. "I'll catch you later, all right?" At the surprised look on the other woman's face and smiled. "Don't worry, you can trust Azumi. Everything will be fine." She then took off into the pack of houses.

Satomi watched for a moment before turning back to Kari. "Um…what exactly…what is this place?"

Kari stared at her for a moment before closing her eyes and walking towards the cave. "A Sanctuary." The woman from the Mist Village frowned before following after her. Her presence seemed to be noticed because people began to pop up, either from the doorways and windows of the houses or from the trees. It was strange, really. They were all mostly women, a few men here and there, but not one child or elder. A bad feeling was swirling in her stomach now. "She's waiting inside." Kari voice brought Satomi's gaze to the cave that they had paused in front of.

"What? I just…go inside and talk to her?" Satomi sounded surprised. "About what?"

Kari glared at her. "You agreed to come here. You are now involved with all of this, whether or not you like it not. You either stay, or you die. It's Azumi's choice now." Satomi's mouth dropped open. What the hell had she gotten herself involved in? "Well?" Kari sounded inpatient. "Get a move on."

Satomi swallowed and took a step inside. The power that she could feel coming from inside it was strange; fierce. It made her tremble as she moved forward.

The cave was dark; only two candles lit it up, sending eerie shadows over the pictures carved on the walls. Satomi stared at the carvings in a strange gaze for a moment before moving closer to get a bet look, not even noticing the woman that she passed.

The first one she saw was a Tanuki with dark vein-markings all over its face and body. It had a single tail and a jagged, concave mouth.

The second held two tails and was a Bakeneko that looked like it was covered in flames.

The Third was a turtle with a crab-like shell and three shrimp like tails. It held a pair of human hands but no back legs.

A monkey with a Gorilla body and a horn on its forehead with four tails.

The fifth was such a strange creature. It took form of a horse but it's head looked like a dolphin with four horns.

The one with six tails was a chubby, white snail with small arms and feet. It held two prominent tentacles with its eyes on the end of them and hole-like openings in its mouth.

The seventh was a type off beetle with its seven tails looking like insect wings. The eyes were covered by a sort of Knight-helmet-skull with spike protrusions on its shoulders and three on each of its six legs.

The eight-tailed creature was an ox-wannabe with four long horns on its head with a fifth one on its chin. It held a muscular body structure(with a hunched back mush like a Bison), arms with more spiked protrusions on the elbows and hands with opposable thumbs like that of a human. It held no hind legs, but its eight tails were in the form of the arms of an octopus. Figures, seeming as how he definitely reached the size of a giant squid.

The final one, with nine tails, took on the form of a demonic fox with the upper body structure of a human with opposable thumbs on his clawed hands.

Beneath the images of the creature, hanging on a kunai, were headbands from different villages, as well as holes that previous kunai had been in. Satomi didn't understand what this was supposed to me.

The One-Tailed was in The Land of Sand.

Two-Tailed was in the Land of Lightening.

Three-Tailed was in the Land of Mist.

Four-Tailed was in the Land of Rocks.

Five-Tailed was in the Land of Rocks.

Six-Tailed was in the Land of Mist.

Seven-Tailed was in the Land of Waterfall.

Eight-Tailed was in the Land of Lightening.

And the Nine-Tailed was in the Land of Fire.

The look in the creatures eyes…it was like they were all truly there, staring at her. Satomi felt her body take an unconscious step back. The hate and rage she felt from just pictures on a cave wall…there was something very, very wrong here. Just with in the hell was going on here?

"Beautiful, aren't they?" The voice made Satomi rip her eyes away from the paintings on the walls and to the form beside her that she hadn't noticed before. It appeared to be a young woman, no older than her middle twenties at 5'8' in height with long black hair and another pair of tan, Hyuuga eyes. She was wearing silver robes with a fierce dragon on it, the sleeves falling well past her hands. "Beautiful…and yet so far away…" The woman took a step forward and placed her right hand on the carving of the fox, eyes closed. Satomi stayed silent, just watching her until she turned back to her. "You are the one that Reina brought with her." She stated. Satomi nodded, avoiding looking into the woman's eyes. There was just something…wrong with her eyes. Satomi couldn't place her finger on just what it was, but… "And just what does one from the Village of the Mist want to do with me?"

"You…" Satomi found that her voice was shaky before she cleared her throat and made it stronger. "You're Azumi, right?"

The woman stared at her for a moment before facing her fully. "Azumi Saya."

"Satomi Gen." She could sense that the strange power was coming from this woman. "Are you…a ninja as well?" There wasn't a headband on her but the power was just…

Azumi smiled and turned back to the carvings for a moment. "I was…a long, long time ago. Now I'm just…" She fell silent for a moment. "What is it that you want?" Azumi asked her.

Satomi frowned. "I didn't want a thing, to be honest." She relayed the events that transpired between her and Reina.

Azumi sighed, shaking her head. "You have been added to the group that Reina has brought her. She believes that I need more human contact and refuses to listen to me when I tell her to stop bringing more and more people to me. She seems to think that I am in need of 'human contact'," She closed her eyes. "And yet it's strange, seeming as how I, in fact, am not exactly human anymore."

Satomi's interest was grabbed the moment that she saw the barrier but now this…this was just making it worse. "What do you mean?"

Azumi was slow, turning to look at the woman. If Satomi hadn't been ready she was sure that her knees would have begun to shake. "This is your chance, Satomi. If you want to leave before you are wrapped up into all of this yourself then leave now. If you stay and ask for the story you will find yourself locked in this forever, no matter what you try to do."

Satomi stared at the other woman for a moment before her voice set off. "What in the hell are you talking about? I don't know what the hell is going on here! Reina just said that she wanted me to meet a friend of hers. I thought that it would be a good idea because I'm not in much contact with people outside of my little group at the mist Village but I'm starting to see that there's something very, very wrong going on here!" As she spoke, Azumi's little smirk just made her anger worse. "Just what the hell are you doing here? What are you talking about?"

"I understand where you are coming from, believe me," The woman told her. "But I am afraid me offer still stands. Leave now and just wonder or stay and become involved. I cannot risk anything being-" Azumi froze in everything, her eyes growing wide. Whipping around to stare at the carvings behind her Satomi followed her gaze to find a strange occurrence. One of the carvings were glowing in a strange light. It was that slug, the six-tailed one. "Kari!" Azumi called out as the lighting died down.

The woman ran inside, looking cautious and ready for a fight. "What is it, Auntie?"

This was Kari's Aunt? Azumi looked younger than Kari! How could that be?

"It's Saiken!" Azumi told her. "Musktell!" Kari's eyes widened at that name, knowing who Azumi was talking about. "He's in trouble! We have to go! Now! Go and grab the Saiko sisters and Akemi!" Kari nodded and took immediately.

Satomi wasn't sure what was going on but it was plainly obvious that it was very important. "What's going on?" She called, moving after Azumi as she exited the Cave herself. She heard voices around the Village but ignored everyone but the woman before her.

Azumi paused for a moment and turned to look at the other woman, her eyes glazed over as she thought. "This is the one and only time that I am going to give this opportunity. Think of it as my apologies on behalf of Reina dragging you into all of this. You may accompany me and the others if you wish to know what I'm talking about. After witnessing this I am sure that you'll be able to decide the right choice in what you want your future to be full of."

Satomi felt that her mouth was dry. Something really important and dangerous was happening and half of her wanted to know just what the hell it was but the other half of her was just telling her to go back to the Village and to Zabuza. She had to make a choice though. Go with Azumi or run back home…

**Here's a question for you guys. This story is about half over, (Don't worry, it's about to get really really good when Satomi returns to the village and the chapters will, actually, be really long too, XD) and I was just wondering what story you guys would like next? Jiraiya's or Nagato/Pein?**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**Long chapter, my friends ;)**

_**Chapter Nine**_

_**Utakata and Saiken**_

**Something was wrong.** Very Wrong. Satomi didn't know what was going on but she knew that they were going to find out what it was soon enough. Azumi stood in front of the cave again, waiting for Kari to return with a few members. Satomi really wanted to know what was going on

"So, I take it that you're sticking with us?"

Satomi glanced to her side to see Reina now standing beside her. She frowned. "I can't say that," She told her. "You pulled me into one hell of a strange situation. You could have told me something about this woman beforehand or at least come with me instead of leaving me in the dark."

"Well, that's my sister for you. She's more of an idiot than Yuichi is."

"Shut up Reiko." Reina growled. She then turned to the two women that had stepped up behind her. "These are my two sisters; Reiko and Reika."

At the height of 5'4' Reiko was almost a spitting image of Reina despite her hair was brown. Her eyes were the same sapphire shade and she was dressed in black and red, a Jashin Amulet hanging around her neck. Satomi only knew what that was because she had seen it in her village before.

Reika was younger than both of them, still in her teens at 5'3', with short brown hair and those same blue eyes. She was dressed like the elder sister was; in black pants and a light purple top. The only headband she wore was the Crescent one tied around her left thigh.

"Which one is the one that you had been looking for?" Satomi asked her.

"This one," She aimed at kick at Reiko but the woman dodged it with a frown. "Anyway," Reina frowned herself. "Sorry about not being able to tell you anything. It's just…I want to show Azumi that she's not alone to deal with all of this by herself. Not anymore, you know?"

Satomi had been mad at the other woman but then gave a small smile. "It's all right. As for my decision…I'm afraid that you'll have to wait until after this next event is over with."

"Oh, so the newcomer gets to see the event?" A new voice greeted them.

"Shut up, Akemi." Reiko growled.

Akemi was the only Leaf Ninja there, let alone the only one that wore the original headband without a slash through it. In the early 20s and at the height of 5'8' she had short red hair much like Satomi's and green, cat-like eyes. She was wearing a pair of black pants and a long sleeved shirt and a green vest. The vest wasn't zipped up, showing off the picture of a blue Hydra wrapping around her body on the shirt.

"Hey, Boss," the Leaf Ninja called. "Yuichi said he'll be coming, he's just gotta put the child to bed. She's been throwing a fit for the last hour."

Azumi glanced at the other woman and nodded. "If he wants to he'll be able to follow us."

"Oh, and by the way," Akemi decided to continue. "I need to hurry and get back, Kakashi and the others are expecting me back tomorrow morning."

"Well if we can get this done fast enough," Azumi gave a small smile. "Then there should be no problem."

"Yeah, just think about it," Reina grinned. "We'll be in the Mist Village so you'll be closer to Konohagakure."

"Wait," Satomi glanced at Azumi. "We're going to the Mist Village?"

"Musktell and Calryn are both residing in the Mist Village," Azumi answered her.

Satomi recalled the headbands that were hanging beneath the pictures on the wall of the cave. "Those things in there on the wall…what are they?""

Azumi smiled and opened her mouth but Kari finally joined them and her smile fell. "Come here, all of you."

Reina grabbed Satomi's hand and pulled her into a circle around Azumi. She watched, intrigued as the woman held up to fingers before her face and closed her eyes, like she was praying. A bright light from below attracted her attention and she glanced down to see a symbols forming beneath them circularly before it began to travel up over their body. Satomi felt her heart began to beat like crazy as her legs disappeared from her sight. Clenching her eyes shut, Satomi held her breath until she felt her feet land on the hard again. She went to take a step back but she lost her support and fell to her knees. Reina gave a laugh and helped her up.

"You have to get used to that." The woman told her. "It caught all of us off guard when we first went through with it."

"Y-Yeah?" Satomi's voice was shaking as well but she regained her composure…until another body popped up in front of her with that circular symbol again.

"S'up, bitches?"

Satomi took a step back before tilting her head to the side in confusion. It was a man this time. In his twenties at the height of 6'3' with short, spiky dark green hair and red eyes. He held three ear piercings and snake bites. He was dressed in a black coat with a pair of matching pants with an Amegakure headband with a slash through it. He was another rogue. And this rogue held a child in his arms. Something told her that this was the Yuichi guy that Akemi had mentioned before.

"You idiot!" Reiko growled. "You brought Fumiko with you?"

The child had to be no older than five with medium black/red hair and burgundy eyes.

"Well, every damn time that I put her down she starts crying so why not? If she dies here then she dies! It'll be her own fault for not staying behind!" Yuichi cried, scratching the back of his head.

"What? You bastard! Hisayo would-"

"MASTER! PLEASE STOP!" The scream cut the argument in half. Satomi turned immediately in the direction of the noise and bit the bottom of her lip. They found themselves outside of a large rock that hand been turned into some kind of temple.

"What the-" Satomi was cut off as Azumi zoomed past her, disappearing into the cave. The others followed after without another word, leaving Satomi to do just the same. As they moved through the temple they could hear a man continue his cries for help and the rustling of chains before the begging turned into screams of pain.

Satomi felt sick as they finally reached the end of the tunnel. The tint of the room was a reddish color and as Satomi stared at the center of the room she almost believed that it was blood. There was a teen boy chained to the middle table, an elder man bent over him doing…god-knows-what too him but whatever it was, it wasn't pretty from the boy's screams. There were around 15 other ninja there, standing around the boy and the old man. At the sight of the group that had just burst into the cave they turned their attention to them instead the old man and the boy.

A look of pure of disgust and hatred spread across Azumi's face before she lunged forward. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM!" Azumi's voice was like fire as she flew to the table, inserting her fist into the elder man's face as she stood protectively over the boy. The man flew across the cave, his hand being removed from the boy beneath him.

"What are you doing?" The man demanded, standing back up. "Stop before-"

But it appeared to be too late. The boy beneath Azumi began to change. Satomi watched in shock as his skin began to bubble up before turning white and transforming. Azumi stepped out of the way and watched as the boy turned into that large, six-tailed slug that was carved into the cave wall at the Crescent Village. Satomi continued to watch, not sure what to do as they all stood there, watching that huge slug crumble the cave around them and suck the elder man into his stomach; there was no doubt that the man was dead now. She had almost forgotten about the other Ninja until one of them gave a yell and lunged at Azumi.

The man never reached her though as Kari jumped in the way, knocking him back.

"We got these goons," Reina called to Azumi. "You just work on calming Seikan down, all right?"

Azumi nodded before running towards the Tailed Beast. Satomi wanted to watch what was going to happen (The creature had killed the old man, would it do the same to Azumi?) but she had these other guys to worry about. She turned to join the fray but was caught off guard as Yuichi dropped beside her and shoved the child in her arms.

"Take her for me for a second!" The man told her before jumping off again into the battle.

Satomi was getting ready for a cry from the child but she stayed silent, just staring up at the woman that held her as she sucked on her thumb. She was at a loss her. What the hell was she supposed to do with a kid? She wanted to help fight. She didn't know what the fuck had been going on but seeing and hearing that boy scream and beg like he had been pissed her off greatly. She wanted to beat the hell out of something now.

"Hey," She got an idea in her head. "Your name's Fumiko, isn't it?" The child nodded. "If I set you on the ground do you think that you'd be able to stay out of the way of the fighting?" There was nothing for a moment before the child nodded. With a sigh of relief Satomi placed the child on the ground before running forward. She froze at the tugging on her pants leg and glanced down to see that the child had taken ahold of it, looking up at the woman with wide, thoughtful eyes. Satomi opened her mouth to speak but was caught off guard with a shrunken hitting her arm moments before a body dropped down to attack her.

Praying that the child was holding on tight enough, Satomi jumped backwards, ripping the star out of her arm. Fumiko wrapped her arms and legs around Satomi's left leg now, holding on for dear life. Satomi frowned as she finally noticed just how light the child was. Why was that, she wondered.

Pulling a kunai out, Satomi turned back to the man attacking her. He was holding a sword, chakra outlining the blade as he leapt forward for another attack. She had never seen this Mist Ninja before, though she didn't really pay attention to them, but she felt no remorse in attacking her comrades. Not after what she had witnessed them doing to the boy.

The man's chakra was becoming a problem since Fumiko was hanging to her leg. Satomi thought quickly before smirking and jumping back and preforming some hand signs. "Kirisame Jutsu!" Satomi growled. Moments later a rain began to fall, sucking the chakra off of the man's blade and any other chakra that was visible in the now destroyed cave. As the moon fell down on them Satomi took this moment to strike the now confused man before quickly hurrying over and helping Reiko with the three women that were on her now.

Satomi's opponent was now a redheaded woman with an Anbu mask on her face. To think that a member of the Anbu would take part in something so horrible infuriated her beyond belief. She tried her hardest to land a hit but this woman was fast and smart…until Fumiko decided to let go of Satomi's leg and went flying at the woman instead. Satomi gave out a cry and went to catch the child but the Anbu did instead, careful to not let the child hurt itself. Satomi took that moment and landed a punch in the woman's face before ripping the giggling child from her arms.

Satomi grabbed her kunai again and backed up, watching as the Anbu mask shattered and fell. The other woman grabbed her own Kunai and went to attack again but froze.

"You…" The woman looked upon Satomi in clear shock and lowered her kunai. "You look just like…just like Martia." Satomi stayed still, freezing at her mother's name. It was just like on that last mission with Kisame. "You are, aren't you…you're-"

"Satomi!" Reiko's voice cried. "Duck!" Satomi did just that and the other woman went flying over her head, landing a foot in the enemy's face. "Score for me!" She laughed, throwing out a peace sign.

Satomi watched as the woman flew back and skid across the rocks on her knees. She gave Satomi another look before holding up her fingers and disappearing. Satomi gave a curse. Last time she had killed the man before they could tell her family where they had seen her but this time…if they were truly looking for her…there might be a problem now that the woman was able to get away.

"Is the kid all right?" Satomi turned to see that all the men had fallen and the others were safe. It was Yuichi that had asked her, walking towards her.

"Yeah," She nodded. "Here," She went to go give Fumiko back to Yuichi but the child refused to let go of her, kicking Yuichi's hands away.

The man grew extremely angry, extremely fast. "Listen here you little brat! I am gonna-" He was cut off by another scream.

Satomi instantly turned around and glanced past the crumbled wall beside her. That large creature and Azumi were outside now, engulfed in a blue light. Satomi and the others hurried towards them (Though Satomi wasn't sure what they would be able to do) but halted to watch the events. The large creature was shrinking in the blue light, turning back into that boy. He fell to his knees at Azumi's feet as his screams dies down and the light disappeared. Azumi dropped her hands and took a deep breath as she wiped sweat from her brow.

"Harusame betrayed me!" The boy then cried, slamming his fists against the ground. "Why? Master, why?" Azumi knelt down before him for a moment as he continued to cry before wrapping her arms around him pulling him close, whispering something to him. Satomi knew she was singing to him, calming him down, so she turned, careful not to watch until the soft tune halted. Fumiko crawled down Satomi's body to stand on her own feet before reaching up and grabbing her hand. Satomi went to pull away but the sight of the child staring thoughtfully at Azumi and the boy as she sucked on her thumb again just made her smile instead before she looked back at the scene before her.

The boy was no older than 16. He was tall and thin with pale golden eyes and black hair that reached his shoulders, his hair parted to the side, cover the left half of his face. He was wearing some kind of grey robe that was now tattered and covered in dust.

"Are you all right?" Azumi asked.

They all stayed silent as the boy looked up at her, pulling back from her arms. She let him go, careful not to make him struggle. "You," He whispered, eyes wide. "You were the one talking to…"

"Yes," Azumi nodded. "I was. And no, it wasn't a dream."

"But how…how did you do this? Who did you find me? Why?" The boy demanded.

The woman continued to smile. "Utakata, right? That's your name?" He nodded. "Well, believe it or not, that little friend inside of you…he used to be inside of me."

The boy's eyes seemed to grow larger. "But…how? How is that…"

"Possible?" Azumi asked. He nodded. "Well, you see, our little friend is not the only one. There are eight others and believe it or not but they all used to be with me. They're like a family to me. In all truth, I want him back," Azumi told the young man. "I want Musktell and the others back more than anything."

"His name is Saiken!" Utakata cried.

Azumi smiled. "Yes, I know. Think of it as a name I gave him when he was once with me," She patted his head like he was a child. "Ask him about it and I'm sure that he'll tell you everything. I would like to take him back, but the only way to do that is to kill you," She paused and the boy's eyes went wide in fear this time. "Do not fear," Azumi shook her head. "I took lives when I was younger but now…I don't see that as a way for me to get what I want. I made a promise to someone very dear to me that I would not take another life unless there was no other choice. So thought I would like Musktell to come back, I will have to wait until…until something else happens." Utakata just sat there, staring at the woman, not sure what to do or what to say. She rubbed his head again. "Go home and get some rest. Your journey, whatever path you take from here, is sure to be hard." Everything was silent as they watched the boy run off.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea to have him run off?" Kari asked her Aunt, crossing her arms.

"He is nothing but a child," Azumi shook her head. "A child betrayed by his master for the power that he was cursed to contain. To cage him until his death to retrieve Musktell…it would just make me feel less human than I already am."

"You keep saying that you're not human," Satomi took a step forward, trying to ignore the child that was crawling all over her. "But I don't understand."

"I take it that you want to know?" Azumi asked, turning to look at her. The silence made her smile. "Reina, you and your sisters go and make sure that no one noticed the events." The three women nodded before disappearing and then Azumi motioned with her head for Satomi to follow her, leaving the other three of the group there, talking amongst themselves. "I'm not sure that you'll believe it all," Azumi began after they had taken seats on the crumbled rocks of what was left of the temple. "In the beginning I didn't believe it either, but I soon learned that I was just being foolish. I trust that you know the story of the Sage of Sixth Paths?"

Satomi stared at her for a moment. "Of course. It is said that the Sage was the man that first explained the truth about Chakra during the time of the endless war. It's also said that he defeated a powerful demon known as the Ten-Tails, sealing it within himself. He then divided the Ten-Tails into nine…" Satomi's voice fell as things began to fall into place. The drawings on the wall. The Six-Tailed Snail that they had just seen. She looked at Azumi to find her nodding with a small smile.

"It is said that the Sage divided the Ten-Tails into nine separate parts and sealed its body in a gigantic stone prison, thus creating the moon." Azumi told her. "But I am afraid that the story is not completely true."

"I-It's not?"

"No. It is true that the Sage defeated the Ten-Tails and locked the main body inside the moon but he himself was the Jinchuriki that held the power of the Ten-Tails power."

"Then…who was it?"

"His wife, Moka. It was during the battle that Moka gave her husband the idea of sealing the Beast. She told him to seal it within her. Having no other option, he did it, but something was wrong. The Ten-Tails was too strong and had taken control of Moka's body. It was then that the older son received an idea about erasing the Ten-Tails' memory and saving their mother but something went wrong. I'm not sure how but Moka's memories were erased as well. Imagine the pain the Sage felt when she woke up, not knowing who he was." Azumi shook her head. "Eventually the Sage died, after naming his youngest son his successor and leaving Moka in her son's care. It was son after that the Brothers fought over who was named their father's successor. It was there that Moka and Remora, a friend of the Younger brother, tried to stop them. The elder brother, in a rage, revealed everything to Moka. She lost control and the Ten-Tails' power broke free. The younger brother tried to erase its memory again, not knowing what else to do, but before he could something awful happened. The demon that Moka had transformed into had caught Remora…and had begun to eat her." Fumiko froze and turned to look at Azumi, now sitting in Satomi's lap and joined her in listening to the story. "I'm not sure how but the Ten-Tails had absorbed Remora's body and took it as its own."

"You mean that it wasn't Moka anymore?" Satomi asked her.

Azumi nodded. "Moka was no more. The Ten-Tails now resided in Remora's body, the Sage's Son erasing the memory once again and resulting in Remora's leaving as well. As time went on, the events happened over and over again. Remora turned into a child by the name of Sakura before she took to a woman named Merona. Merona is one of my favorites of the story," Azumi told them with a soft smile. "Merona, though she was cursed to possess the demon and all memory taken from her, Tero, the man that loved her, stayed by her, lighting their fire once again. He didn't care that she possessed the demon. He loved her and he refused to give her up until death." Something pulled in Satomi's heart. That was a true man. "Merona never lost control but her body did age. It was their youngest daughter, Hiyori that offered to take the demon from her mother. She saw it as an honor, despite knowing that her memories would be erased. One of her brothers, Van, was the one that took care of her afterwards. Her brother, Rai, had gone off and created a family and through that was born the Senju Brothers. The eldest, Hashirama, would later be known as the first Hokage of the Leaf Village, his brother, Tobirama, the second." Satomi nodded, having heard of the two of them before from Kisame. That and she had seen their faces in the side of the mountain when she had passed through Konoha. "It was then, later in the years after Van had died and left Hiyori alone, that her nephews introduced her to a young girl from the Hyuuga Clan. The girl got too interested though and had tried to do experiments on Hiyori to try and extract the power from the Tailed Beast and it resulted in yet another woman being taken by the Ten-Tails." Azumi took a pause, a small smile spreading across her lips before she continued.

"Now this is, in my opinion, the best story of all these. The Senju brothers were stronger than the men before and so they kept the Ten-Tails in-line whenever it lost control but they didn't see that with each time they erased its memory that their power was growing weaker. The Jinchuriki began to recall parts of it; her attacking the enemy or sometimes even friends. The one that started everything was when she met a man named Madara Uchiha."

"Uchiha?" Satomi raised a brow. "From the Leaf Village?"

"Yes, but you have to remember that this almost 100 years. The Senjus and the Uchihas hated eachother. The woman was kept under close eye of the Senju brothers since she was now the head of the Hyuuga Clan and it was because of her that the Senjus and the Hyuugas and the Uchihas came together and formed the Leaf Village. Everything was fine in the beginning but then…I suppose you could say that getting too close with the Uchiha head was a bad influence."

"How so?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it bad but it was the beginning of everything. When they first met, during a battle, Madara had wounded the Hyuuga and she lost control to save her life. The Senjus were there to take care of her and after that the village was formed. Hashirama had told the Uchihas to stay silent but Madara…both Madara and his brother Izuna…they felt that it was unfair. Izuna in the end fell in love with the Hyuuga and wanted to tell her everything. But what none of them had known was that the Ten-Tails was furious at being under control like this and had somehow separated into nine separate forms that began to open up the Hyuuga's eyes into what the Senjus and the rest of them had been doing to her over time. It was here that she named the Tailed Beasts. Most of them had names that only she knew though they are known as other names to the people nowadays. The first tail is still known as Shukaku. She had named the Second Rin but she is now known as Matatabi. The third, Calryn, is now Isobu. Donji, the fourth, is now called Goku. Basktor is now Kokuo. Musktell, as you know, is now Saiken. Karnel is Chomei. Octine was given the name Gyuki and Kyuubi is now Kurama," Azumi gave a small laugh as if she remembered something. "As time went on the Hyuuga found herself hating the Senjus for keeping secrets and using her like this and instead she found herself around the Uchihas instead. She didn't know who but there was just something about Madara. He was a proud, rude, jerk but at the same time there was…something that attracted her to him." Satomi gave a small smile herself. Zabuza was just the same and yet she was still there with him. She understood. "Perhaps it was because he refused to hide everything from her and wanted to tell her the truth."

"Well, as time went on, Izuna died and with Madara beside her, The Hyuuga moved forward and confronted the Senjus about everything. She found that everything the Tailed Beasts had told her was true. She was enraged, yes, but at the same time she understood why they did what they did. She went to leave but Hashirama wouldn't let her. He claimed that her knowing all of this now was a bad idea and tried to erase her memory again but she and the Tailed Beasts weren't having it this time. They stopped their memory from being erased but Hashirama had sealed the Tails' power away so that it would be harder for the Hyuuga to use their power. It was later that night when the ending began. Madara took the Hyuuga into an underground passage beneath his house. Madara told her that at first, when they first met, that he saw her as a monster. A beast that was nothing but a problem in his way. He despised her as his brother loved her. He hated her. But he told her then that he now saw the angel that his brother could see. He told her that this underground passage was originally supposed to be used to separate the Tailed Beasts from her but he told the Hyuuga that he wasn't going to do that anymore. It was then that Madara confessed to her. Confessed everything. His hate for the Senjus. The way his brother had died. His feelings for her…" She paused, taking a deep breath.

"It was that night that something went wrong, though. Madara wanted revenge on the Senjus and he wanted to use the power of the ones that the fools had been taking advantage of over the years. He tried to break the seal on the Tailed-Beasts but he ended up doing something else. Something worse. He broke the seal on the Bests and released their power, yes, but he also broke the seal that connected them to the Hyuuga's body. The beasts were all separated and scattered around the land. Only Kyuubi, the fox, was left in the Leaf Village. He and Madara began to destroy the Village but Azumi got involved with it and hurt. Madara took the Hyuuga and ran as Kyuubi distracted the Senju brothers. It was soon after that that Madara and the Hyuuga separated, not to hear from eachother again for…for a long, long time."

Azumi fell silent after that and Satomi's mind set to work, recalling what this woman had told that child. It was impossible…"You told Utakata that…that all the Tailed-Beasts used to be with you. How is that so if they were separated from the Hyuuga…" Her gaze landed on the tan eyes that Azumi held. "How is it possible, if you say that this took place over 100 years ago?"

The Hyuuga grinned. "After the Ten-Tails took over my body I became…un-human. There are Ten-Tails of the creature but only nine of them were taken from my bottom. I am, as you would say, the unfinished project, searching for the nine puzzle pieces that will make me whole again. That will set me free."

"What do mean…set you free?" Both of them glanced down at the child in Satomi's lap as she spoke,

Azumi chuckled. "I have been alive over a hundred years, nearly a thousand if you want to add together all the events with the different bodies between the Sage's wife and now. I have seen what this world has progressed into. Money is all that matters now. In the beginning everything was just fine but now, it makes me all sad. Money and power…it makes me sick!" She growled her last words. "It makes me sick and I want nothing more to do with it. That's why…I believe that if I retrieve all the others and become whole again…I can finally pass on. Pass on and find…find and rejoin those that did love me, even after learning the truth about what I was."

Satomi stared at this woman in silence for a moment. Of everything that she had been expecting, this wasn't it. What the hell was she supposed to say to that? There was no way that this could have been possible and yet something told Satomi to believe her. She had seen the Tailed-Beast but the story was so much different than what she had read. Perhaps it was true and was just kept a secret to keep everyone from fearing that there was a way for the Tailed-Beasts to return to their original form.

"What…what about this Village of yours?" She decided to continue.

Azumi glanced back at her. "I didn't mean to make it. It was originally just me and Kari, my niece. But in the end more and more seemed to find their way to me and behind them they brought others, much like Reina did to you. I don't ask for anything but they all seem to think that keeping an eye on the Tailed-Beasts until I can find a way to return them to me is a good idea. They all just flock to me like bees to honey."

"Shouldn't you be pleased with that?" Satomi asked her.

Azumi thought for a moment before a smile spread across her face. "I suppose that I am. There's always someone there if I need something and they all come back, despite how I act sometimes."

This woman…was strange. Satomi felt like she should get up and leave while she still could but she stayed seated, fighting with herself on what her reaction should be. Should she even involve herself with what was going on here? She didn't know what would happen. Should she risk…

"Does it matter?" Fumiko's voice spoke up, clearing Satomi's mind. "If they want to help just accept it. That means they believe in what you're trying to do. They wouldn't be helping you if they saw you as a monster." Fumiko smiled.

Satomi grinned at the appreciative look on Azumi's face. She was going to go on a ledge here but something told her that this was going to be the right decision. "All right." She told the older woman. "I'll help you."

Azumi stared at her for a moment before a smiled grinned at her. "I'll tell Kari." She stood up but she fell silent when Satomi spoke.

"You say Kari is your niece. How is she still alive?" She asked.

Azumi glanced at her. "That's a secret." She told him with a soft smile before finishing moving towards the crowd.

"She's not too bad," Fumiko's voice told her moments before they followed the other woman. "Just understood." Satomi nodded, catching up to the others as Azumi told them that she was going to join them.

"Damn," Yuichi sighed. "Why is it almost always women? There's like, only four men here that is involve with this Village," He cursed, giving the woman a look. Fumiko was still hanging onto Satomi's eyes and refused to let go as she wore a large smile. Yuichi grinned. "Here you go. First mission that you can take care of when you return home."

"Oh? What would that be?" Azumi asked the bow, giving Satomi a small smile.

Yuichi gave a smooth grin as he gazed at Satomi. "You're gonna take care of the brat."

Satomi's eyes widened for a moment as she looked at the five-year-old beside her before glaring at Yuichi. "Are you crazy? I don't have the time to take care of a child! Besides, Zabuza would kill me! He can barely stand the Demon Brothers as they are!"

"Too bad," The man laughed, crossing his arms. "Deal with it and do it right."

"Shut up you-" Satomi was cut off by a voice behind them.

"Wait!" They all turned to see that the boy from before, Utakata, had returned. He ran to Azumi. "You…Saiken tells me that…that what you said was true. That you did, once, possessed him…and his brethren."

Azumi nodded. "Yes." She smiled. "I am pleased that he is not…disappointed in me."

"No," Utakata shook his head. "He told me everything! Everything that had happened to you! It's not fair! None of it was!"

"Life is life," Azumi told him. "I cannot change what happened and I'm sure that, before all of this is over, everything's just going to be worse. You might want to hurry and rest and leave. Leave before the guards come looking for your Master and the others here."

"I…I don't what to do," Utakata told her after a few minutes of waiting. "But there's nowhere else for me to turn. I want…I want to go with you!" Azumi watched him in surprise. "Not for a long time, but perhaps a little while. You can…you can teach me how to…connect with Saiken. He might not be human but that doesn't mean he deserves to be alone! Just like you…You two could be close again…At least for a little while…"

Azumi stared at him for a moment. "I am not going to become your Master," She told him. "But that does not keep you from following to learn a few things from observation."

Utakata smiled and nodded. Satomi watched him for a moment before a small smile spread across her face again. ~Poor Thing~ She told herself. ~I wonder what's going to happen next, now~

It wasn't too long after that when the Saiko sisters all returned. Reiko and Reika had landed beside Kari and the others but Reina landed by Azumi and Satomi.

"We got some good news and some bad news," Reina dropped in front of them, a worried look on her face as she glanced at Satomi.

"What is it?" Satomi asked, pulling Fumiko's hand off of her face.

"The bad news is that the Village is up and searching. The good news is that it's not for what happened out here."

"Oh?" Azumi asked, cupping her chin. "And just who is it for?"

Reina mumbled the name under her breath, giving Satomi another look. "What was that?" Yuichi asked her.

The woman gave Satomi an apologetic look. "Zabuza Momochi and his men attacked the Mizukage."

The smile instantly fell from Satomi's face and Azumi instantly understood exactly what was going on. "What happened?" She demanded.

"He and his group failed a coup d'état and is now on the run from the Village. The ANBU is on their tail as of right now." She mumbled.

Satomi jumped to her feet, worry clear on her face. She looked at Azumi but she didn't have to say a word. "So. We'll be in touch soon. I can trust you not to say anything, can't I?"

Satomi nodded before taking off towards the Mist Village, not even noticing that Fumiko was still hanging onto her back.

**And if you wanna know more on Madara/Azumi's story it's on my profile for you newcomers. I'm gonna go read it again myself now, lol**

**Now don't worry, the real good stuff with Zabuza starts in the next chapter ;)**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

_**Chapter Ten**_

_**What were you thinking?**_

"**Where are we going?"**

Satomi had thought that she had been imagining the voice but froze when the question was repeated. They weren't too far off from Kisame's house. When she stopped the child crawled off of her back. Cursing at herself, Satomi glared down at her.

"What are you doing?" ~How could I have forgotten that she was still on my back?~

"I'm doing what he told me to do," Fumiko smiled as she grabbed her hand. "He told me to keep an eye on you!"

Yuichi had been the only man there, next to Utakata, but there wasn't time to worry about that. She had to find Zabuza! The city had been in a panic as she hurried through it. Her partner truly had tried to kill the Kage. Why? What made him do it? Why didn't he talk to her about it? Why hadn't he waited for her? She didn't have time to deal with this kid. What was she supposed to do with her? Perhaps she could leave her at the house.

"Come on," She hurried off again, the child moving after her as fast as she could. It didn't take them long to reach the house. What they found made Satomi's insides curl as she covered Fumiko's eyes. It seemed that Zabuza had returned here as well just to find out that he had been followed by the Anbu. The bodies were scattered all across the yard and from the looks of the battered door and the broken windows there was more inside.

"What…what happened?" The child squeezed Satomi's hand tightly as she looked around the area.

Satomi didn't think that a child should see this but she didn't have time to hide it. And she wasn't going to leave her here with all these bodies so the child was going to have to come with her, but to where? Perhaps there was a clue or something inside the house, but should she take the child inside?

"Is this…where your friend lived?"

Glancing at the child, Satomi nodded. "Yes, this is where we lived." She thought for another moment before picking the child up. "Fumiko, I want you to keep your eyes shut, all right? Whatever you do, don't look."

Fumiko nodded a few moments later. "Okay."

Satomi took a deep breath before stepping into the house.

_**~We are the lucky ones  
>We shine like a thousand suns<br>When all of the color runs together~**_

"_**Get away from her!" **__Satomi's voice rang through Zabuza's ears. He tried to move but found his body extremely heavy. There was a sound of a blow landing and a cry before a growl joined in, followed by another cry and something that sounded like a skidding across the ground. "Haku! Fumiko!" Satomi screamed again. "Leave them alone, you bastard!"_

_Someone else gave a few tsk's. "Satomi, poor thing. After all that I had done for you, you're still too weak. And after all this time I thought that you would have made me proud. It seems that my brother had been right."_

"_I don't care what you say!" Satomi growled. "I-" there was a sound of another blow and Satomi fell silent. _

_Blood was all over the place, as was sweat. Zabuza finally found enough strength to open his eyes. They grew wide in shock at the sight of the body beneath him; it was moments later that he realized that it was his. Kunai and shuriken were littered all over him, blood littering all over his clothes. At his feet was a massive broadsword shaped like a giant butcher knife. He knew what that was. It was the Kubikiribocho, one of the swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Lifting his gaze, he felt what blood he had left run cold. They were in a dark warehouse, he didn't know where, but there were dead bodies all over the place. The only ones who didn't seem to be dead were Satomi, a redheaded man that stood over her, two young children towards the side of the warehouse and himself._

_Why the two children were there, Zabuza had no idea. He watched for a moment as the young, brown-haired boy crawled to the bleeding girl with auburn hair. Satomi was curled up on the floor at the feet of the red-haired man, holding her face as blood seeped through her fingers. She pulled herself away from him but the man stepped after her. _

"_I am truly disappointed in you, Satomi. I had thought that you would powerful. A weapon that I could use to take control. Something I could use to lead this village into glory! Instead you ran and turned into this weak little thing that I see before me. Pitiful thing. I must have used the wrong woman. Martia was weak and in the end it seems that you are too."_

"_Weak…" Satomi pushed herself to her feet, stumbling as she straightened herself up. "I am anything but weak…I may not want to be used as a weapon for the likes of you, you bastard, but I am not weak! If I were weak, I wouldn't have ran all those years ago! I would have stayed in that cage, continuing to go through what you were putting me through. If I were weak, I wouldn't have made it this far! If I were weak," As she continued to talk, Zabuza heard her voice grow louder and a small wind picked up at her feet. He remembered this. As the wind got stronger and stronger, Zabuza couldn't help but give a little smirk. Why, he didn't know, but he did. He pushed his back against the wall behind him and pushed himself up weakly before leaning down and grabbing the blade. His feet were unsteady but he ran forward anyway, the blade in his hand as he headed towards the man while he was distracted by the woman in front of him. "If I were weak, then I wouldn't be able to kill you, father!"_

**Zabuza lurched up from his dream. **Sweat was dripping down his skin and his mouth was open as he breathed hard. ~That damn dream again!~ He was growing tired of it. It seemed to haunt him every night that Satomi wasn't sleeping in the room beside him or she wasn't near. That was the main reason that he hated her going off on missions on her own but he would never admit it aloud. He was never going to tell her, or anyone, that he was afraid of some stupid dream.

And a dream that involved her.

~But…Can I really call it a dream anymore?~

Zabuza didn't know what to think now. He had once asked how he had obtained the Kubikiribocho in that dream but that had been answered the day before when he killed the previous Swordsman of the Mist and taken over as the blade's master. It was just a coincidence that it was the same sword as in his dream; there were only seven, after all. But as for the other things...

"Are you all right?"

The others thing was just a bit too much. Zabuza thought that he was going crazy. "What are you doing in here?" He growled, placing the back of his hand against the top of his forehead.

"You were shouting in your sleep." The child told him.

Sitting up, Zabuza stared at the small form at the edge of the bed. The child couldn't be older than 7 with black hair to his shoulders, pale skin, and dark brown eyes. His frame was slender, almost as if he hadn't been able to eat a lot in the last few months. He was wearing a short, blue kimono with light blue edges and a dark grey split skirt.

This was one of the children that were from his dream. You couldn't believe the shock that traveled through Zabuza when he found him. This was Haku.

Zabuza had found this orphan just before he had decided to lead his attack. He was eating from the garbage, fighting off wild dogs in the streets. He instantly though just how this child was in his dreams and confronted him. He didn't know how it happened, really, but not long after Zabuza took Haku with him, asking him to become his 'weapon'. He was more surprised that the child agreed to do it, but even more surprised when he didn't take in that second child he had run across just hours ago. The small, white-haired child that looked like just like Haku did, left in the wild to fend for himself. It made Zabuza wonder…wonder why he had taken Haku with him. Was it truly because he needed a 'weapon' or because…because of what he would always see in his dream.

Well, no matter what it was, there was no way in hell that Zabuza was going to take that girl if he ever came across her. She was going to be left on her own, no matter what.

Thinking about that made Zabuza worry a bit. Well, he wouldn't exactly call it worry. He just didn't know where Satomi was. What was she going to do when she returned home and found what he had done? Was she going to be held responsible for actions since he was her partner?

"Are you all right?" Haku's voice held a strip of worry as he stepped closer to Zabuza.

Standing up from the bed, Zabuza moved over to the window. The house they were now in was an abandoned one in the middle of the forest close to the river. No one was there so Zabuza had let them stay for the night. A few came with him, including the Demon Brothers, and they were scattered through the house as well. There-

Zabuza's thoughts were cut off at the sight of something jumping through the trees. He didn't need to think to realize what it was. "Stay here!" He growled at Haku before jumping out the window. They had been found, had they? Well it was too bad for the Anbu's that had chased them.

Reaching up, Zabuza gripped the Kubikiribocho handle as he hid around the side of a tree. He watched as the form hurried through the trees. Only one? Really? This ninja was either very brave or very stupid. As the form jumped down in front of the house, Zabuza gave a silent sigh of relief. It was just Satomi. He was surprised to see her. How had she found them? Then again, maybe he should ask that. For the last few years, no matter where Zabuza was, this woman was always able to find him. It was like her sixth sense. He dropped his hand and moved forward from the trees. He noticed something beside her but that wasn't where his attention was.

Satomi turned her head at the movement and faced him, hands on her hips.Added by Snapper2

"So, caught up finally, did you?" Zabuza called to her, crossing his arms as he paused a few feet away from her.

Satomi looked at him for a moment before he received a fist to the face. Grabbing his nose he glared at her in shock as she shook in anger. "What the hell were you thinking!" She demanded. "What the fuck were you thinking, attacking the Kage like that? With Children! What would you have done if they died because you did something this stupid? What about if you had died, huh? What if you were captured? What would you have done then? What would I have done?" She asked him. Zabuza's brows rose at that. That was not something that he had been expecting to hear from her. "Why didn't you wait for me? We could have talked about this, you know! At least let me in on your ideas, you jerk!"

Zabuza gave a small smirk. That's what she was mad about? Him not telling her? That lifted something very heavy off of his shoulders at the moment. He opened his eyes again and opened his mouth to speak when he took notice of the look on her face. "What?" He asked her.

"Y…you…you got it," Satomi took a circle around him and ran her hand down the flat-side of the sword strapped to his back. "You finally got it!" She jumped back in front of him and gave a wink. "I bet you're glad that I got you that kit for your birthday now, aren't you?" Zabuza frowned at her before glancing away. To be honest that was the first thing that he had thought about when he took the sword from its previous master; not that he would admit that to her. He was very pleased to see that she had found him and that she wasn't on orders to kill him or bring him back to the Village. What did it mean, though? Was she leaving the village behind to come with him just like the others had? "What is this?" Satomi's glare at Zabuza was back as Haku hid behind him and the other hid behind her. "Adopt children day without telling your partner?"

"Well, you didn't tell me about this one." The man replied as he tilted a bit to look at the girl. He froze. "Impossible…" He whispered.

"What's impossible?" Satomi asked him. "The kid? Yeah, I didn't expect to be bringing her with me, believe me." She shook her head. "This is-"

"Fumiko," The name slipped from Zabuza's mouth as he stared down at the second child from his dreams.

Satomi straightened a bit as the child gripped the back of her shirt again. "How did you know that?"

Zabuza stared at the child for a moment before turning back to the woman. "Know what?"

"Her name. I never said it." Satomi stared at her partner for a moment, searching for something.

Zabuza stayed silent for a moment before turning around to head back into the house as the sun began to rise. "Lucky guess."

"Lucky guess my ass," Satomi growled before she looked at the boy that Zabuza had left behind with the Demon Brothers. "What's your name?"

"Haku," He smiled. "You're a friend of Zabuza's?"

"Well, I wouldn't say a friend but I'm sure I'm the closest thing he has to one," She laughed before she took in the sight of just how thin Haku was. It made her stomach turn. "Are you hungry, sweetie?" She asked him.

Haku lowered his eyes and glanced to the side. "Y-yeah…"

"Then how about the three of us go get something to eat, hmm?"

Haku and Fumiko both seemed to be pleased with that and grabbed one of her hands. "Yeah!"

Zabuza watched for a moment as Satomi talked to the two children before closing his eyes. Something very strange was going on here. He wasn't sure what was going on but he knew that it had something to do with that woman outside with the children. It HAD to be about her. This had all started when Kisame brought her home with him. There was a secret being kept from Zabuza, had been for years, but he was going to get Satomi to tell him if it was the last thing he could do.

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

_**Chapter Eleven**_

_**I Want Answers**_

"**So, what now? **We can't stay here forever, Zabuza. They'll find us just like last time."

"I'm thinking."

Satomi sighed and glanced at the man that was sitting in the chair, staring at the wall. The Demon Brothers were outside, hunting with a few of the others while Satomi sat on the floor with Haku and Fumiko. The two children had taken such a liking to eachother for the last few weeks and did everything together. Satomi was now rather glad that Fumiko had ended up coming with her from that strange group.

Speaking of which, Satomi hadn't said a word about them to Zabuza. That woman, Azumi, had been so strange but after what she had seen how could she not believe it? She was going to follow the rules, just in case she ever ran into the members of that village again.

"What are you doing, Satomi?"

The woman glanced behind her to see that Zabuza was watching her and the two children. She smiled. "Well, Haku and Fumiko didn't like being left behind while fighting so I'm teaching them a few things."

"A few things? Like what?"

Satomi lifted up her hand with another smile. "Single-handed hand signs."

Zabuza stared at her for a moment before standing from the chair and walking from the room in silence. Satomi sighed and dropped her hands before gazing at the floor beneath her. Zabuza had been…acting strange since she had joined im again. He always seemed to be thinking about something but he would never tell her what it was. It made her feel…left out.

"Satomi…" The woman glanced up to see the two children smiling at her. "Can we go play outside?"

"Sure, just be careful."

"Of course." The girl nodded.

"Don't worry." Haku smiled. Satomi watched the young boy grabbed Fumiko's hand and led her outside. The two children were smart. They knew when to leave the house and give Satomi and Zabuza their privacy to talk.

Satomi stood up and followed after the man. It had been about a month since Zabuza had tried to kill the Mizukage and the Anbu were still on their tail. They would move at least once a week, sometimes finding a small, abandoned house or a cave or being stuck in the forest. Satomi and Zabuza never talked about what had happened but she had gotten some information off of the Demon Brothers and the others that were with them. Their group was eight, now ten if you include Haku and Fumiko. Gozu and Meizu had taken the two younger children under their wings whenever Satomi was busy and everyone turned to watch over them. They were one hell of a strange family, that was for sure.

Zabuza was standing at the window again, thinking quietly to himself as the woman walked up behind him. Leaning against the wall beside the man and crossing her arms she turned her head to stare at him. He didn't move, didn't speak for a moment before turning his eyes to her.

"What do you want?"

Satomi frowned. "What do you mean what do I want? I want to know what you're plans are. What are we going to do now? Are we going to leave the Land of Water and go somewhere else? Are we going change our names and settle down in some distant village?"

Zabuza's gaze turned back to the window. "I…I don't know." He was lost. He didn't expect to lose against the Mizukage but he had. That boy, Yagura, was a monster. Zabuza had been given the name 'Demon' but he was nothing compared to what Yagura had been.

"You don't know?" Satomi asked him. "Then what the hell did you attack for? What did you plan on doing if you had won? Become the Mizukage yourself?"

"No, I-" He paused. What did he plan on doing if he had killed the boy?

"You didn't even have a plan for that, did you?" Satomi sighed, rubbing her temples. Working with this man was getting frustrating a lot quicker nowadays. It was then that an idea popped up into her head. They didn't have anywhere to go so maybe…what if she took Zabuza and the others to Azumi? Would that be okay? According to what Reika told her, she and her sister were missing-nin from the Waterfall village. Would they be accepted in the little village as well? Would Zabuza agree to it, though?

"What are you doing here, Satomi?" Zabuza glanced at her again, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Why did you follow us?"

The woman stared at him for a moment, thinking for the right, true answer. "I've already lost Kisame, Zabuza. I'm not going to lose you, too." She couldn't tell him how she really felt but this answer wasn't a lie, either. "The two of you were all I had and now that one of you is gone I refuse to just let the other slip from my fingers. So, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me no matter what, got it?"

Zabuza stayed silent as his mask hid the small smile on his lips. He was glad that she had come after him to join him instead of to kill him or capture him like the Anbu had. He doubted that she had even thought about attacking him and that was one of the reasons that he liked to have her around. He knew that he could trust her. The other reasons…

"Kisame's not really your uncle, is he?"

Satomi stiffened for a moment before glancing at the ceiling. "Not by blood. I considered him more of a brother than an uncle though. Maybe even…even a father for the ten years that he took care of me."

~Damn~ She thought to herself. ~It was only nine years? It flew by so fast. It's been almost another two years since he disappeared. I'm almost twenty, now.~

Zabuza had just turned twenty himself. What had happened to all the years?

"Then where is your family?" Zabuza asked her. "That thief we ran into, when he mentioned them you grew scared."

"Don't worry about that, it was a misunderstanding," Satomi shook her head.

"A misunderstanding? Sure it was." He glared at her. "What have you and Kisame kept from me?"

"Kept from you?" Satomi asked him. "Why do you think that we would-"

"Satomi, stop lying to me," Zabuza cut her off with a glare. "What are you not telling me?"

This was bad. Really, really bad! Zabuza was digging into her past. Satomi should have known that the moment they ran into that man from before that it would dig itself back to the top. And now there was that woman she ran into with Azumi and the others. She had run off somewhere so she was still alive to tell the others that she was still alive. Her Kekkei Genkai was still a secret from everyone but her and Kisame. She had been surprised when Zabuza told her that Haku had one himself so that told her that her partner wasn't going to try and kill him. Though Zabuza told her that he planned on using Haku as just a weapon because of his powers she knew that that wasn't really true; she wasn't going to let it be true. But she was different. What would Zabuza's reaction be if she told him after all this time? It was just better if she didn't.

A young child's scream cut through the silence, dragging both of them from the conversation. Neither of them had to think about who it was and set off in moments, hurrying towards its direction. It was one person. It was that woman that Satomi had been fighting while Azumi took care of Utakata those months ago. She was holding Fumiko in her arms as Haku glared at her, clenching his teeth.

"Let her go!" The boy cried.

"Haku," Satomi landed in front of the child. "Get back." He stared up at her before doing as she ordered. "You again." Satomi glared at the other woman. "How did you find me?"

"It's not that hard. After seeing you I could follow you. How many women travel with the Demon of the Hidden Mist?"

"So, it was Zabuza who led you here, huh?" Satomi shook her head as the man in the mask snorted beside her. "I guess that doesn't really matter, does it?"

"You know this woman?" Zabuza asked her.

Satomi shook her head. "This was an idiot that I had to fight when I found Fumiko. Seems like she came back to try and take her again."

"You killed my entire squad!" The woman growled. "You and your pack of vermin!"

"Well, considering what you fools were doing I doubt that we were the bad ones."

"We?" Zabuza asked.

"Reika and her sisters." She told him. It wasn't really a lie since Reika and her two sisters were there. And would those villagers they stayed with be considered their 'sisters' as well?

"Liar!" The woman cried out. "There were more than just a few of you."

"Yes, it's amazing how much you can do with shadow clones, don't you think?" Satomi smiled to herself before taking a step forward. "Now, if you would please, can I have her back?" Fumiko looked scared beyond belief but kept silent as the woman shook her head. "Give me the child." Satomi growled.

"They're on their way," She grinned, shaking her head again. "All of them. Run and hide all you want. It doesn't matter. They-" Zabuza's sword hit its mark and the woman's head rolled across the clearing to land in the pond. Her body stood for a moment before falling and dropping Fumiko. The child ran to Satomi.

"You're our Aquarius, Satomi!" The little girl giggled as she squeezed the woman's waist. "Both mine and Haku's!"

"Aquarius?" Satomi asked her.

"An Aquarius is a protector," Fumiko grinned up at her. "It's a being who will go through lengths of pain and trials to protect those that mean the most to them. It's a being that would follow their most beloved ones into the pits of hell and back."

Haku titled his head to the side. "I thought an Aquarius was a birth sign."

Fumiko blushed. "Sh-shut up, Haku! It is not! It's a protector!"

Satomi watched as the two children continued to talk. ~An Aquarius, huh~

(~HINT HINT! KEEP THIS DESCRIPTION IN MIND ;)~)

Her mind soon wandered back to what the woman had said as the two children continued to argue. _"They're on their way." _This was bad. Worse than Zabuza trying to find everything out on his own.

"What to do, what to do…" She mumbled to herself, tapping her chin.

"Is…is something wrong?" Fumiko asked.

"Of course not," Satomi told her with a small smile. "Come on, we can't stay here for too much longer. We have to go find another place for the night."

"Another place?" The girl kicked at the dirt. "When are we going to stay in one place?"

Haku placed a hand on Fumiko's shoulder. "It doesn't matter where we are. When we're with our Aquarius' we'll always be home, right?"

The girl giggled. "Yeah!"

Satomi shook her head with a light, disbelieving look. These children had only been around for a few months and already they were talking like that about her and Zabuza. Slowly, her gaze turned to the silent man across from her. He was glaring at her, as if telling her that he was right and that he was expecting some answers right now.

~Well,~ She told herself. ~He's not getting them right now but, with the way things are looking right now, he'll be getting them soon. Whether or not I want to tell them~

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	12. Update

_**My apologies on their not being chapters submitted in the last week or so. My Grandfather is in the hospital so I have not been writing as of now. I'm not leaving but just give me a few more days before I can give you guys some more chapters. I'm really sorry about this but You are all just going to have to wait. It won't be long before I'm back and I hope that you guys can wait just a little longer :)**_


	13. Chapter 12

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**I would like to thank Cloudy Momochi and Kagura Hale for the wishes on my grandfather. The Surgery went fine but he will not be able to live on his own for a few months for now. I'm moving down to take care of him so my updates won't be often for a little while but they will be coming, I promise :)**

_**Chapter Twelve**_

_**It's Over**_

**She had been told that her father and the others were on their way, but they never showed. **It had been months of them just waiting but nothing ever happened. Satomi had lightened her guard, relieved and thinking that she was safe for the time being.

She would never make that mistake again.

"Are we staying here, Satomi?"

The young woman glanced down at the two children that sat at her feet, practicing their hand signs. They hadn't moved again from this new place after Zabuza took them to it. It was hidden deep in the forest and always seemed to be covered in a strange mist that didn't want to float off. It was a strange building but it was large enough to hold the group that was with them so Satomi was pleased with it.

(FYI, its Zabuza's Hideout in the series. I have no idea how to explain it, lol. My apologies.)

"Maybe," Satomi answered the young girl. "As long as something else doesn't happen…"

"Why are these people after us?" Haku lifted his head to look at the woman above him. "Did we do something?"

Satomi frowned, glancing off to the side. "No, we didn't do anything, Haku. These people are just…they're monsters."

"Why are monsters after you, Satomi?" Fumiko asked. "What did you do?"

Satomi was silent for a moment before closing her eyes. "I don't know, Fumiko. I don't have an answer for you."

~What did I do?~ She asked herself. ~I don't understand why I'm left to this fate. I never did anything yet still…still they're trying to capture me. Is this…is this how Azumi felt when she realized that she was just being used? No, for her it had to be much worse. She knew all those people, she was their friend. She loved them and took care of them. It's the same but then again not the same. I've always hated my family so the thought of my betrayal was never as horrible as Azumi's.~ Satomi sighed and closed her eyes. ~This won't be over with until I take care of my father myself.~

"I'm tired." Fumiko's yawn dragged Satomi from her thoughts. "Can I go to sleep?"

The woman smiled. "You don't have to ask me if you want to go to bed, Fumiko. I'm not your babysitter."

"No," the child grinned. "But you're my Aquarius. You're my Mom."

"Mom?" Satomi's voice faltered. Where did that come from? She wasn't her mother and there was no way in hell that this woman planned on being a mother any time soon. Look at her childhood; she'd have no idea what to do."

"Yeah," Haku agreed. "Mom."

"Both of you?" She frowned. "Get out of here." Both the children ran out of the room, laughing and dodging the kicks she aimed at them as they hurried to their own rooms.

Sighing to herself, Satomi closed her door and leaned against it. Zabuza had been gone for the last few days with a couple of others of their little group. He didn't tell her why, just told her to stay here with Haku and Fumiko. She didn't argue with his, glad that he wasn't badgering her about her past. It was coming, she was sure of that, but she was glad it hadn't happened yet. She was fearing that Zabuza would…she feared rejection.

It was late when Satomi got out of the shower; well after midnight. Pulling on a tank top, she fell back onto her bed and rolled to her side. She pulled one of the pillows against her stomach and curled around it as she tried to fall asleep. It wasn't a peaceful trial. There was a problem with trying to fall asleep tonight. She counted sheep. Sang. Created a story in her head. So many things came but didn't work. Her head was just refusing to let her pass, and then…that's when it hit her. At first, Satomi thought that the crash was just a part of her imagination but as the sounds of fighting progressed, she learned that they weren't. Those sounds were from downstairs as someone attacked her companions.

She didn't have to think about who it was. Satomi didn't waste any time getting dressed. She was up and out of her room in just her tank top in moments. All her kunai and other weapons were left behind as well, leaving just her hands and jutsus.

"Satomi!" Haku's voice caught the woman and she landed her kick against the side of the man that was trying to burst into the young boy's room.

"Stay in there, Haku!" She told him as the sounds of battle continued around them. Not all of their men were here but they were doing one hell of a fight. Their attackers weren't bad, either. "Is Fumiko with you?"

"Yes," the young girl replied. "You should let us fight, Satomi! We can help!"

"No, Fumiko! Just stay in here! I'll be back for you soon."

As she turned, Satomi jumped back into the battle. It wasn't that Haku and Fumiko couldn't fight. They were just young. Satomi didn't want them to get hurt. Perhaps…perhaps getting them into battle wasn't exactly a bad idea. She was about the same age when she started with Zabuza and Kisame. Even a bit younger. Maybe she was being-

"I highly doubt that these are the appropriate clothes for a battle."

Satomi froze and brought her senses back into the fighting. She found herself outside, a few other battles happening around her. The one that had talked as a man standing before her. With short blonde hair and sharp green eyes he was dressed in black and gray, his Mist Headband in his forehead. His face froze her; it made her blood run cold. That face…it had haunted her for years.

"Father…"

The man laughed, shaking his head. "I'm afraid not, my dear. Close, but not quite. My brother didn't think that he needed to come and capture his little toy again."

"I am not a toy!" Satomi growled. So, his was her uncle. Uncle Akihiro. Yes, she could believe that. Brothers do look the same and her father was a redhead, not blond. "What do you want?" She asked. "Why are you after me!"

"Satomi, Satomi, Satomi," Akihiro shook his head. "You should know your answer by now. Your Kekkei Genkai is the reason. You are one of the few that were born with the Gen Clan Genkai. It might because you received if from both sides of the family but you have it. You and the others were being trained to be our weapons. To be the strongest. We were to use you to help the Mizukage take over the other lands. You were one of our strongest. Only three of you survived the training and then, somehow, you got out. My brother was right. You were the strongest of them. It's a pity that you don't use your powers anymore. You hide them, afraid of what could happen. You could do so much with what you have, Satomi. If only you were to use them. Do you know how powerful you could become?"

"That's just it," Satomi growled. "I don't want that. I'm perfectly fine with the way that I am now. I don't need anything else. No more power. No more anger. Nothing!"

"And that is why you will fall." One moment Akihiro was standing, the next he had slammed a fist into her stomach, smashing the young woman into the ground. "Look at you. The oldest of them all and too afraid to use your powers. That is why you will fall. To defeat anyone you will need to use your powers, Satomi. We all know where you are. We know who you're with. Do you think that you'll be able to keep all of these friends of yours safe? Where you are now that will never happen!"

"What do you know?" Satomi lifted her leg and kicked the man off of her before returning his fist blow to his face and sending him backwards. "You don't know anything about me! I am not that little brat from thirteen years ago! You don't know what I can do or what I'm capable! I don't need to rely on any stupid Kekkei Genkai to prove that I am strong! You are the weak ones. Using children to do your dirty work? You claim to be powerful but you're the weak ones yourselves!"

Akihiro chuckled as a few more blows were exchanged between both of them. "You sound just like Martia." Satomi raised a brow. "You're mother never liked what her husband did to you all either. He put her in her place quickly though." Satomi didn't know why, but the idea that crossed her mind of what her father had done to her mother angered her. With a growl she rushed at her uncle again, landing another blow to his face as she took one herself. She felt something crack against her fist and smirked before flipping backwards as Akihiro clutched his nose. She felt pleased as he glared at her. "Akihiko seemed to be right. No more playing around with you. Now's the time to get serious." He rushed forward again and Satomi braced herself for his next attack.

And that was when HE came flying out of the trees. God, he looked like an angel as he came closer with that large sword ready to slash through its prey. Like a guardian angel. Like a…an Aquarius. (Remember description, lol)

Her uncle's body fell two opposite ways after Zabuza's Kubikiribocho sword slashed him once from shoulder to hip. Satomi closed her eyes as the blood sprayed across her and her savior before giving a shuddering gasp,

"Satomi!" she opened her eyes at her name to see the Demon Brothers, Meizu and Gozu, ran to her from behind Zabuza with the others that the man had taken with him. "Are you all right?" They demanded as they each grabbed one of her legs.

"Yeah," she mumbled as the others took care of the rest of the attackers. What else could she say? She felt like she should apologize, but how? What would be the best way? Was there a best way? All these events were just crap; one right after the other. Why couldn't she just be left alone? Satomi was positive that is Kisame was still with them then none of this would have happened. The blue man would have been able to take care of all of this. Hell, he would have been able to keep Zabuza from attacking the Mizukage, wouldn't he? It wasn't until after Kisame left that all of this started. No, it was before then…with those damn bandits…

"Zabuza!" Haku's voice tore the woman from her thoughts to watch as Haku ran up to the man with a smile.

"I'm glad to see that you decided to finally come back." Fumiko paused beside Satomi, placing her hands on her hips as she glared at the masked man. "What took you so long?"

If it were under different circumstances then Satomi would have laughed. Not right now though. None of the others laughed either, but the child stood her ground, staring at the taller man.

"We were scouting," Gozu decided to answer the girl.

She glanced at him. "Scouting?" Fumiko looked surprised. "For what? Does that mean…" She turned back to Zabuza. "Are we…are we going to have to leave again?" Fumiko asked him. Everyone looked at that man that was apparently their leader now; no one would argue against what he would say.

"We're not moving again." Zabuza told them. "We're staying here. Clean this place up," His cold eyes turned to Satomi. "And you will come with me."

She tried her hardest not to look at him. "Let me change fi-"

"Now, Satomi," He reached forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her to him. "You are going to give me my answers this time; no more running."

Satomi swallowed. She was in trouble now; serious trouble.

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	14. Chapter 13

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**FYI: If you guys don't like lemons…good luck resisting the urge ;)**

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

_**Aquarius**_

**Satomi was embarrassed. **For multiple reasons but the man one was that she was in her underwear and her tank top. She didn't care of her uncle's blood was all over her, it didn't matter. The thought of bring half naked in front of Zabuza made her nervous. She could barely stand walking around without a bra on in their house with him there, let alone just a shirt. She was sure that her face a deep red as the two of them just stood there in the trees.

Zabuza had led the two of them off from the others as they cleaned up the battle that had just happened. Satomi didn't like just leaving them there to do it themselves but she wasn't going to argue with the man that stood before her. He stood there, leaning against one of the trees, just staring at her in silence. She could tell that he was mad; his brows were furrowed and he was glaring at her, blood caked on him as well. The thought of his eyes on her, when she was dressed like this, just made it all worse.

"Are you just going to stand there or am I going to have to force the explanations out of you?"

Satomi furrowed her brows, crossing her arms. "What are you talking about?"

Zabuza moved closer to her. She backed up against the tree behind her. "I am tired of your lies, Satomi. I want your answers. Now! You know why we keep getting attacked! Stop lying to me, Satomi, and just tell me!"

She glanced away from him, thinking where to start in her head. Well, she had told herself that this was going to be the end of her lies, right? It's not like she really had a choice anymore.

"It's my father…" She began. "He's the one that's been sending these men after us."

"You're father? I thought your father died."

"Yeah, well, I wish." She crossed her arms again as she closed her eyes. "I ran from my father the day that Kisame found me and took me in. I had grown tired in being trained to be a weapon."

"A weapon?"

She was silent for a moment. "In the Gen Clan, they use the children that are born with Kekkei Genkai as weapons against their enemies. Thy train and train and beat it into them, locking them in cages and treating them like some sort of animals!" The hurt and pain in her voice made the man uneasy. "I couldn't…I couldn't take it anymore and so, I escaped. Kisame found me and I think you know the rest of the story. Father has found me again and apparently wants me to return to him."

"You mean to tell me that you've…you have a Kekkei Genkai?" Zabuza growled.

"Yeah," Satomi snarled. "What of it? You gonna have a problem with that?"

Zabuza turned to her, hate and rage in his eyes as his mask continued to fall from his face. "That's what the two of you have been hiding from me?" He demanded. "All these years! You never once thought about telling me?"

"No, I was afraid that if I told you then, then…you would leave me behind and take everything that I needed from me. It just wasn't fair! Just because I had a Kekkei Genkai…"

"You thought that that would happen?" He was furious. His hands were shaking and he clenched them, trying to control himself. "After all that I have done for you…you think that I would just leave you? Kill you like the others? I took in Haku! And Fumiko! And you think that after all of this," He shook his head and turned to face her with a cold glare. "You're a fool, Satomi. How could you keep something this important from me?" He took a breath. "When I took in Haku, why didn't you tell me then?"

She shook her head. "It had already been so many years. How could I just tell you?"

"I would have rather heard it from you than from him!" Zabuza pointed back towards their camp; thinking about her uncle, no doubt. "God, why are you so stupid!" He turned back to face her.

"Why am I stupid!?" Satomi growled. "How about I ask you that same question? Why in the hell did you attack the Mizukage? What happened when I wasn't there?"

Zabuza fell silent for a moment, unsure of how to explain everything. "He was…he was going to use you."

"What?" That drained Satomi's anger right out of her. "What do you mean?"

"They found out who you were." He told her. "My next mission was to capture you and give you back to your father."

"He was…he knew…" She shook her head. "You were…"

"I didn't know why, but my orders were to capture you and give you back to the Gen Clan. I didn't know why but now I know."

"You attacked him to…to…" Satomi couldn't believe it. Zabuza had led the assault against the Mizukage for her…because of her. Why would he…

"Now, let me ask you a question," Zabuza turned to her. His mask was nearly completely removed but he didn't seem to care at the moment. "Why are you here? Why did you follow me, Satomi?"

The woman stared at him for a moment still shocked as she thought for the right, true answer. "I've already lost Kisame, Zabuza. I'm not going to lose you, too."

"That's what you told me last time, too."

"Well, it's true!" Satomi told him. "I…miss Kisame a lot but I've gotten through without him. If you were to leave…I don't…I don't think I would be able to…" She closed her eyes. "Doesn't it even matter why? I'm here, aren't I? Just deal with it, Zabuza!"

They stood there for a moment, watching the other as the blood continued to sit on their skin. Zabuza's mask had completely fallen now, revealing a set of sharp teeth much like Kisame had had. It must have been a Swordsman thing.

~What's going to happen now?~ She found herself wondering. ~What is he going to d-~

Satomi's thoughts were cut off as she found herself pinned again the tree behind her, Zabuza's lips leaving a hot, wet trail down her skin. Her reaction was not what she had been expecting. She had dreamed of Zabuza doing this to her for years but never once in her dreams had she opened her mouth and let out a squawk.

Zabuza pulled back instantly, and raised an eyebrow. She lowered her head and fought off a fit of giggles. "That was not the reaction that I had been looking for." He told her plainly.

"I'm sure," She wiped her eyes.

"Shall we try that again?" He grinned, leaning in again.

"Wait," She placed her hands against his chest. "Zabuza, what are you doing?"

He closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them and stared into hers. "I am doing what I've been holding back for years now. That day, all those years ago, when a certain little girl told me that I wasn't a monster I began to appreciate everything. I began to appreciate her and I promised that I would protect her from everything. But it seems that now there is only one thing that I cannot protect her from anymore."

"And what is that?"

"Myself."

_**~I hear your whispers  
>Break the silence <strong>_

_**And it calms me down.  
>Your taste on my lips,<br>Your salty kisses~**_

Satomi was still for a moment before giving a soft smile. "I don't need you to protect me, Zabuza. Not from what…from what I want." She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.

_**~They say I'm seeking out the danger.  
>That one day you won't let me go,<br>I'll drown, you'll take me down.~**_

That seemed to be the 'ok' sign to Zabuza as moments later he had her pinned against the tree again, stealing the breath from her lungs as she ran her fingers through his hair. This was…actually happening, wasn't it? All these years she had adored her partner from afar and now she was actually going to get what she wanted. This wasn't a dream, right? She prayed it wasn't because she doubted that she'd be able to handle it if it was. There was just one problem.

"Zabuza," She gasped as his lips lowered to her neck. "I don't know…"  
>He smirked, lifting his eyes up to hers again. "And you think I do?" He asked her. "Just trust me."<p>

Satomi flushed before giving him a nod. She had read stories and heard about things like this but still…she was sure that her face was a dark red already.

_**~I need you Aquarius,  
>Enchanted I will have to stay.~<strong>_

Zabuza's hands slowly rose from her legs and up her sides before slipping up the top of her shirt. The warm trails left by his skin sent a shiver down her back and she squeezed her eyes shut, unsure of what to do as his hands reached her breasts. As her drew circles through the shirt with his fingers, Satomi felt her lower region began to feel…

Satomi squeezed her eyes closed even more as she heard the ripping of her shirt. She immediately went to cross her arms but he caught them with a laugh. "Don't get shy yet, Satomi. We haven't even begun, yet."

~Oh god~

_**~I feel you Aquarius,  
>Cause you the sea set me free.<strong>_

_**You call to me Aquarius.  
>You call to me, you set me free.~<strong>_

She didn't know how long they stood there as Zabuza amused himself with her upper body with his hands and mouth but she did know that she wasn't going to last much longer if he continued. She didn't want to just stand there while he…

Timidly, she lowered her hands from his hair and began to explore his chest as well. She tried hard not to go too fast as Zabuza paused for a moment, leaning his head against her chest as he let her continue. Slipping the headband from his head and pulling the bandages from around his neck, she ignored the blood that he still had on him as she brought her mouth down on his neck. She felt his hand tighten on her arm and gave a small grin as she also removed the strap from his body. His sword fell to the ground as she then took care of the arm warmers he wore. She felt her breath getting faster. She was doing this right, right? According to Zabuza's reactions she definitely was.

_**~I relinquish to your powers.  
>From your grasp, I just can't hide.<br>I missed the danger I had to conquer.  
>You made me feel alive.~<strong>_

Zabuza decided that he wanted to move again and before she knew it, his hands had reached her nether region, resulting in her teeth digging into his shoulder as a fire burst into life at the pit of her stomach. Sharp, little gasps began to escape her mouth as she buried her face into the crook of his neck while her nails dug into the back of his shoulders. A chuckle escaped his own mouth as he continued to play. He listened, as her gasps got closer together before pulling back from her. He gave another laugh at the look of disappointment on her face.

"You know, once we take the step through, you won't be able to stop me." He told her. She stared at him for a moment, that 'you're an idiot' look on her face as they just stood there for a moment. His grin, if it could, got even darker that usual. "Can't say I didn't warn you."

_**~They say I have to be aware,  
>That one day you won't let me go,<br>I'll drown you, you'll take me down.~**_

That next moment, Satomi was pinned against that tree again, her panties being ripped off as Zabuza's pants were removed. She tried not to look down but in the end couldn't help herself. Eyes wide, she opened her mouth to speak but couldn't as Zabuza invaded it with his tongue. Growing bold, she fought back for dominance. It seemed that it was the right choice as Zabuza began to fight harder, winning only when his hands began to touch her again.

"Cheater." She gasped at him.

He grinned at her. "Expert."

"How in the hell are you an expert?"

He growled at her as a response.

_**~I need you Aquarius,  
>Enchanted I will have to stay.~<br>**_

Hiking her legs up around his waist, Zabuza positioned himself. Satomi knew what was coming and she braced her back against the tree as she buried her face into the man's shoulder again. These turned out to be the longest seconds of her life that finally ended with a stinging pain that broke out a small cry from the woman that Zabuza captured with his mouth. It started out slow, both of them getting used to the feel of it but Zabuza was, after all, a very impatient man. He couldn't hold still for too long before taking off. Satomi ignored the feeling of the tree behind her as she held on, trying to keep her cries low as he buried his face in her bosom, giving nibbles.

_**~I feel you Aquarius,  
>Cause you the sea set me free<strong>_

_**You call to me Aquarius.~  
><strong>_

Her uncle's blood was being smeared on both of them as they had forgotten that they were still covered in it and Satomi's cries weren't as loud as they should have been as her meter started to rise. Sweat left a sheen on Zabuza's back as he continued to pound. Neither of them wanted this to but in the end both of them released and leaned against the other, Satomi holding his head to her as both wore grins across their faces.

_**~I long for you Aquarius.  
>I need to be with you again.<strong>_

_**I fear you, Aquarius  
>My destiny until the end of time.~<strong>_

"I never thought that I would lose my innocence against the base of a tree," Satomi giggled. "But then again I don't see you doing it in a bed, either."

Zabuza gave one of his smirks as he leaned closer to her ear. "Then I guess that when we get back home I should give you another surprise, shouldn't I?" He gave her a swift bite on the neck. She sucked her breath in for a moment before setting her feet back on the ground. Zabuza backed off of her as she gave out a stretch. "Damn. If I got that for keeping a secret away from you then I should do it more often." She teased. Her reply was a snort.

_**~I need you Aquarius,  
>Enchanted I will have to stay.<strong>_

_**I feel you Aquarius,  
>Cause you the sea set me free.~<strong>_

"Come on," Zabuza told her. "Let's get back before they start looking for us.

"But, but," She flushed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't have and clothes on! You ripped them off, remember?"

Zabuza paused as he buttoned his pants back on and then smiled. "I guess I did, didn't I? Guess you're out of luck."

"Zabuza Momochi, if you make me walk back home naked I am going to-" She was cut off by another kiss as he lifted her in his arms. She couldn't help but smile. "That's what I thought."

"Just be quiet."

_**~You call to me Aquarius.~**_

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	15. Chapter 14

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_**The Saiko Sisters**_

**The warm arms around her made her smile as she lay there in bed, staring at the wall. **She closed her eyes, not wanting to move and let the cold air invade the warmth she felt beside her. It was a few months later after the events with her Uncle, and Satomi had yet to be attacked by her father's men again. She prayed that she had been left alone but there was a small voice in the back of her head that told her something else was up and that she wasn't going to be free for much longer. Perhaps she should go off and take care of her father on her own now while she had the chance but she…

"Are you still going into the village this afternoon?" Zabuza's voice broke through her thoughts as the man snuggled his face into the crook of her neck.

"I suppose. Haku and Fumiko have been begging to leave the forest for days now, so I'll be taking them with me."

"Good," He told her. "Get the brats out of my hair for a while."

"Now with an attitude like that, I think I'll leave them here." She replied. He glared at her and she gave a laugh. "Haku is very fond of you, Zabuza. You shouldn't act so mean to him."

"I act this way to everyone; including you."

"Yes, well, I can take it and give it back two-fold. Haku is just a child who looks up to you; you did save him, after all. Besides, if you be kinder to Haku then maybe Fumiko will be nice to you as well."

The man snorted, pushing himself up from the bed. Satomi sat up, frowning as the warmth left. The view was nice though. "I don't need the brat to be nice to me. I'm not nice. I am-"

"'Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist' yeah, yeah, I've heard it before." Satomi sighed as she stood up herself and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. "And I'm sure that I'll be hearing that for the rest of my life, as well. But still, they are just children."

Her answer was silent until arms slid around her waist as the hot water beat down on them. "And children must learn early."

She shook her head and turned around to face him. "There's just no getting through to you, is there?"

"Well," He gave her a grin. "Maybe just one."

_**~I can't speak **_

_**Im terrified**_

'_**Cuz if I say the wrong thing**_

_**You might see how hard I'm trying~**_

"**I want some of these, and some of this! Oh, and this too!"**

~Bad idea, Satomi~ The woman shook her head. ~Never let a 7-year-old girl pick out what to eat for dinner.~

"But that's not healthy, Fumiko," Haku told the other child. "Let's get some of this instead and next time we can get that, all right?"

"Aww. You promise?"

"Of course!"

"All right. Fine."

~Good thing Haku was here~ She told herself. The boy could always change Fumiko's mind. Whenever Zabuza tried to do it, though…

The two children were very pleased to get out of the forest so Satomi decided to let them run around the streets of the village, playing with the other children as she finished the shopping. She was drinking her tea when they returned to her and they were going to make off for the forest again when a voice calling out her name caught her attention, making her freeze. She panicked for a moment but at the sight of the one calling her she gave a sigh of relief.

"Satomi." The voice called again, closer this time. The boy was no older than 16. He was tall and thin with pale golden eyes and black hair that reached his shoulders, his hair parted to the side, cover the left half of his face. He was wearing some kind of grey robe that was now tattered and covered in dust.

"You," Satomi's eyes widened at the sight of the young man. "Utakata. Long time no see!" She grinned. She couldn't resist it and reached forward, pulling the teen into a hug. He awkwardly gave it back before pulling back with a light blush on his cheeks. "How have you been?" Haku and Fumiko watched in silence as they spoke. "How's Azumi been treating you?"

"I have been fine." Utakata smiled. "Azumi…" He glanced at the two children before looking back to her. "Is just fine. I'm on a mission for her right now."

"Oh, too bad. I would invite you to join us for lunch but if you have to go,"

"Yes, I do, but next time I see you," He told her.

"Not a problem!" He turned to move away. "Utakata," He turned back to her. "I'm glad that you're doing okay."

His smile turned wider. "So am I."

As he moved away, Haku turned to look at the older woman. "Who was that, Satomi?"

"That was Utakata, Haku. He's a friend of mine from before I met you."

"What's this I see? Another kid, Satomi?"

"Reina!" Fumiko cried. Satomi turned to find the Saiko sisters standing there. This time, the three were all wearing strange black cloaks with red clouds around their shoulders. "Reiko! Reika!"

"Hey there, twerp!" Reiko rubbed the child's head. "Have you been a pain in the ass for Satomi like you were for Yuichi?"

"Nope!" The girl said happily as she hugged all three of them.

"Why not?" The woman raised a brow.

"'Cuz I like, Satomi! Zabuza, on the other hand," She pulled a face and the sisters laughed again.

"Good to see you guys again," Satomi chuckled. "Utakata was just here. Are you with him?"

Reina nodded as Fumiko introduced Haku to Reiko and Reika. "Sort of. We're on our own mission so we're keeping an eye on him." She looked at her friend. "She hasn't been too much trouble, has she?"

"Nah," Satomi shook her head, setting the bags down at her feet. "She and Haku have been no trouble at all, compared to what I thought they were going to be. I'm quite surprised." She paused for a moment. "How's Azumi?"

"She's fine. Keeping an eye on her friends like normally. I have a question for you. Have you ever heard of a group called the Akatsuki?"

"The Akatsuki?" Satomi searched her mind for a moment. "No, I don't think so."

"Then how about a man named Kisame Hoshigaki?"

"Kisame?" She was clear in her voice and on her face. "Blue skin and looks like a shark?"

"I thought so," Reina smiled. "Seeing as how he's from the Mist Village. He mentioned you to his partner the other day, so I wasn't sure if it was you he was talking about or not."

"You've seen him? Where is he?" She demanded.

Reina shook her head. "I can't say where, but I can tell you that he's all right." She smiled.

Satomi frowned for a moment before giving off a sigh. "Asshole. Give him a kick for me the next time you see him, all right? And tell him he better hope that he doesn't see me again anytime soon, all right? He'll regret it for leaving me and Zabuza along all those years ago."

Reina nodded. She was curious of what she was talking about but she would get her answers from Kisame later. Just so you know, we know all about your father and your early past," Satomi's shocked look made her smile. "Azumi has spies everywhere. Anyway, we've sent your father off on a false trail of you for the last few months." Reina told her friend.

"That's why we've been free of him for the last few months?"

"We help eachother in the Crescent Moon Village, Satomi," She smiled. "No matter what." Satomi felt her eyes water up and rubbed them away quickly as Reina patted a hand on her back with a small smile. "We might be able to keep him at bay for too much longer but just long enough to get you ready for his next attack. If you ever need any help, just give me a call. I'll come running."

Satomi shook her head. "I'm sure that you would, Reina, but my father is my own problem to take care of."

The eldest Saiko sister grinned. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me. Oh, speaking of which," She reached through her cloak and pulled something out. "Here; I forgot to give this to you last time. It marks you as one of us now, you know?" Satomi looked at the headband with the Crescent moon on it, a small smile on her face. "And don't worry, when the holidays come around and other things like that, you'll be seeing us again so don't forget about us."

"Trust me," Reiko's voice joined them as she wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders. "She won't be able to get your annoying voice out of her mind."

Reina's reply was an elbow to her sister's stomach as she grinned at Satomi. "Well, we have to return to the others before Hidan does something stupid again. I'll see you again soon, all right?"

"Yeah, no problem." Satomi smiled.

Haku and Fumiko moved back to Satomi, waving to the three sisters as they headed off in their own direction.

"I'm glad I got to see them again!" Fumiko said happily, picking one of the bags up again. "Yuichi is still being a jerk, but they seem to be doing good."

"Was that your family, Fumiko?" Haku asked, a sad look on his face.

Fumiko smiled at him. "Yeah, they were, but I've got you guys now! You're my family now, Haku! And so is Satomi!"

"And Zabuza?" The boy asked excitedly.

Fumiko pulled a face. "I'm not too sure on that one yet. Ask me again in a year or so."

Satomi shook her head, laughing as she picked up the rest of the bags and began to head back to their home. Now that she thought about it, they were sort of a family now, weren't they? The Demon Brothers and the others included in that. Was this…was this how Azumi felt when her little group started to come together? Did she see Reina and the others are her siblings or her children? She didn't know the woman too well, having met her only once, but something told Satomi that Azumi would do anything to keep her friends and companions safe. Just like she would for Zabuza and the others. Anything.

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	16. Chapter 15

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**It's starting to get really, really good guys! Stick around; I'm finishing the story this weekend!**

**_Chapter Fifteen_**

**_Mother_**

**"Satomi," **The woman lifted her head up from her book. She was sitting in a chair in the lounge, watching the four children as Zabuza and a few others were on a mission. She had wanted to go with them but he had told her to stay behind with Haku and the Demon Brothers.

"What is it, Fumiko?"

"when are we going to get to go on missions?" The girl asked. "Haku and I are tired of staying here and doing nothing!"

"The missions aren't really that much fun," Gozu told her.

"They get boring after a while," Meizu commented.

"I just want out of this house every once in a while. Is that too much to ask?" Fumiko cried.

"The problem is that we aren't good enough fighters yet," Haku sighed, hanging his head.

"But we've been training since they took us in, have we not? Yuichi and Hisayo taught me a few things even before then! It's been nearly a year, Haku! We're both really, really good!" She told him. "We train really hard! Even when they're not around!"

"Is that right?" Satomi set her book aside. "All right, how about you show me?"

"Show you?" Haku looked at her.

"Yeah, come on. Let's go outside and have a little fight show, hmm? If you're as good as you say you are then I'll talk to Zabuza about a mission, deal?

Fumiko jumped to her feet. "Deal!"

Gozu and Meizu sat on a nearby tree trunk, just watching as Haku and Fumiko stood in the yard. Haku looked nervous but Fumiko had a fire in her eyes that Satomi had seen before in Reina's eyes.

"Knock them out, Satomi!" Meizu grinned.

"I hope you guys don't think that I'm fighting them." The woman grinned. "It's you four while I enjoy the event."

"What?" Gozu's grin fell.

"We're no match for Satomi," Haku told them.

"I don't care who we fight, just hurry up!" Fumiko growled.

The Demon Brothers gave up their seat to Satomi and she watched with a smile as they faced eachother. "Don't think we're going to go easy on you just because you're a girl." Meizu told her, lifting up his claw.

"Trust me, I don't want you to." She replied, spreading her feet out.

Satomi watched, clearly pleased and impressed; with all four of them. The Demon Brothers had gotten better with their claws, now able to move together without trouble like they had had when they first started out with this weapon. It was like they were reading each other's mind, not once talking to the other. She was very happy with that; if they kept going this way then they were going to be great when they were older.

Yes, the Demon Brothers were great but Fumiko and Haku…they were just something else. Fumiko's strength was surprising to her. Satomi and Zabuza trained them every day when they weren't on missions but she had never seen this before. Was Fumiko hiding her true strength for a moment like this to surprise her? And Haku, good lord, he was just as good, if not better, than his partner. As she sat there, watching as Haku and Fumiko quickly obtained the upper hand in the battle, Satomi stood up with a grin. They were almost as good as partners that she and Zabuza were; almost.

Footsteps from behind caught her and Satomi whipped around just in time to see a woman before she felt arms wrapped around her waist.

"It's you!" The woman cried. "It's you. It's really you!"

Satomi quickly pulled herself from the woman as the four children paused in their battle and watched. She had reached for her kunai but the feel of this woman told her that there was no reason for that. "Who are you?"

"It's me, Satomi," The woman placed a hand to her chest. "Your mother!"

Satomi took a step back, confusion clear on her face. The woman had long, thin red hair and soft green eyes. As she stared at her, recognition ran through her mind. "Martia?"

"Yes baby," The woman threw her arms around Satomi again. "It's me! I've…I've finally found you! After all these years!"

"Get away from me!" Satomi pushed her away from her and got into a fighting position. She searched the area for any signs of ninja but surprisingly found none. "Where are they? Where are the ones you brought with you?"

Martia closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I'm here alone, Satomi. Please, you have to listen to me!"

"And why should I do that!? You let him…let him! All that he did to me! I was forced to live in a damn cage! You let him beat me when I didn't do what you wanted! I wasn't a daughter to you! I was a damn weapon! I-"

"I didn't want that!" Martia fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. "I tried to stop him! Why do you think he kept me from seeing you? He was the leader of the Clan! Everyone was under his control and they did what he said in keeping me from you! I couldn't stop him, no matter how hard I tried! It's…It's all my fault for not being strong enough!"

Satomi turned her head away, refusing to feel bad for making this woman cry. After all that she had gone through, she had a right to be hateful. "What do you want, Martia?" She was not going to call her mother.

"I just," She wiped her eyes clear; it didn't help for too long. "I wanted to know that you were safe. That you were okay. I just wanted to know that you didn't die like…"

"Die?" She raised a brow.

"Yes. Akihiko told me that you are his brother killed eachother. I…I had to make sure."

Satomi's sirens went off. "You fool! Do you realize what you've done!?" Satomi pulled herself right back into her fighting distance. "You've lead him right to me!"

"What?" Martia jumped to her feet as the four children placed their backs against the others, searching the clearing like their leader was. "But how? Where?"

"What else to you think he was doing!?" Satomi searched the trees. ~He had too~

"Satomi, I don't think-" Fumiko's voice cut off as explosions went off around the clearing now.

"Get back!" Satomi had jumped out of the way, blocking The Demon Brothers with her body as the flashes went off. She prayed that Fumiko and Haku were out of the way as well; they had just been further away than the Demon Brothers were.

"Satomi, what happened?" Meizu cried, rubbing the smoke out of his eyes.

"Listen to me," Satomi whispered. "To run into the house and stay there until I call for you, understand? I'll send Haku and Fumiko in after you."

"What about you?" Gozu demanded. "I don't want to leave you out here in an attack!"

"I'll be fine! Just do as I say!" She growled.

"Come on, Gozu," Meizu grabbed is brother and dragged him after him.

Satomi pushed herself back to her feet and bared her teeth as a cool laugh began to sound as the smoke cleared away. The first thing she saw was Haku. The child wasn't too far from her now, pushing himself back to his own feet as a red mark spread on his right cheek. The next thing she saw was Martia's body; or what was left of it.

"It's good to see you again." The laughing voice grabbed her attention and she turned. The man had short blonde hair and sharp green eyes as he was dressed in white and brown, a Mist Headband on his forehead and a deep scar on the left side of his face; Fumiko was slung over his shoulder, unmoving.

That face…she knew who it truly was this time.

"Father."

Akihiko Gen smiled as he stared down at his daughter. "Fifteen years, Satomi. I'm impressed. I didn't expect you to be this hard to catch." He ran a hand over his face. "You friend in the Akatsuki, Kisame, nearly killed me if his Uchiha partner hadn't of stopped him long enough for me to get away."

Satomi raised a brow as a respectful feeling passed through her. ~Kisame, I love you~ "Why are you still after me!? Just leave me be! You can make others with my power! Just leave me alone!"

"That's just it, Satomi," Her father shook his head. "I've tried. So many children and none of them got the strength you had. You were the best Satomi. And no one other than the best deserved to live under my roof."

Her face paled. "You…killed them?"

"Of course. What else could I do? Wasting time on bad eggs is just a waste. You possess the Kekkei Genkai that I need. You are the only one that I need, Satomi."

"Well, you're not going to get me!" The woman growled. "Now give me back my daughter!"

Akihiko raised a brow. "Your daughter, hmm? I was wondering what you were doing with these children. What have you done? Brought them in to make them train?" He gave a laugh. "You call me a monster as you do the same thing as I did."

"Be quiet!" Haku's voice was fierce as he took a step forward. "Leave Satomi alone! She doesn't make us do anything that we don't want to do. She doesn't lock us in a cage!"

Akihiko gave a smirk at the child. "Children. You're so blind. The ones you believe that want to take care of you are only using you for their own goals. You'll understand when you're older." Akihiko turned back to his daughter. "I know that you do not want to come back without a fight, Satomi. But I now have a way to drag you back to me. You do have such sight on this child, after all." He motioned at the child over his shoulder. "Just think about it. If you don't come after us, then she's left to take your place." He gave another laugh.

"Fumiko!" Satomi cried, watching as the man disappeared with the child in his arms. "Dammit!" She had no time to waste. "Gozu, Meizu!" The Demon Brothers immediately moved out of the house; they must have been waiting right by the door. "Go and get Zabuza! Tell him what happened!" The brothers nodded before taking off. "Haku, I-"

"I'm not staying here," The boy immediately told her.

"Haku, this is too dangerous-"

"That's exactly it!" The boy tightened his fists. "Fumiko is in danger! I have to save her! I'm not staying here and waiting to hear whether or not she's still safe! Please, Satomi!"

Satomi's eyes softened for a moment before sighing and nodding her head. "Just stay close and behind the scenes. Get her out of there and run away, got it?" She hurried off. She didn't have to think about where her father was trying to lead her. Her little hellhole when she was a child…

"But what about you?" Haku asked, keeping up with her.

Satomi narrowed her face. "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything else…"

**Almost done guys! Just a few more chapters!  
>Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)<strong>


	17. Chapter 16

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

**_Chapter Sixteen_**

**_Strength to Kill_**

**This place brought back memories. **Memories that Satomi didn't want to relive. She had been trying to forget everything about this place since she meet Kisame and Zabuza but it never left.

"What is this place?" Haku asked, a sick look on his face.

Satomi closed her eyes. "Home…"

"Home?" Haku asked her. "This is where you grew up?"

"Go off and hide, Haku," The woman told him. "I'll distract him. You save Fumiko and get back to Zabuza, got it?"

"Are you sure? I can help you fight!"

"I know you could," She closed her eyes before walking forward through the door to the warehouse. "But this is something that I have to do."

Satomi paused, staring around the warehouse she had stepped inside to. They had passed through the Gen Village; if there had been someone there, they were hiding from them. She was sure that they were aware of what was happening. Inside of the dark warehouse, it was easy to see the cages lined up against the back of the wall. Satomi squeezed her fists at the sight of Fumiko being inside the one on the very end, stuck in the corner. That cage…that had been hers…

"Satomi!"

"I must confess," Akihiko had been sitting on top of the cage, tossing a kunai in his hands. He paused his hand and looked up, a smile on his face. "I had feared that you wouldn't come. The child had faith in you though." He stood up to his feet, shoving the kunai back into his pouch. "But I take it that you're going to fight instead of trading yourself for her, right?"

Satomi stayed silent, glaring at her father as he continued to talk. This had been the man that haunted her dreams all her life. This was who she had always been trying to run away from, and now here he was. Now was her chance. Either kill her nightmare or be left to deal with it from the remainder of her life, no matter how short it was.

"To be truthful, I wanted to see this man that you've been with." Akihiko continued. "Your blue friend Kisame told me that you were with Zabuza Momochi. Imagine my surprise in finding out that you were partners with The Demon of the Hidden Mist. That was the last thing that I had thought you would do. I thought you would have run off to a different land; or died on your own. Again, that just proves that you are more than I had expected."

Satomi resisted from giving a sigh and rolling her eyes. "It doesn't matter. Either give me the girl or I'll take her by force."

The man placed a hand on his hip, staring at her. "I see that talking won't be able to do something, so instead let's try something else."

Satomi's eyebrow raised for a moment before closing them as forms seemed to melt in from the shadows. "Well, I should have been expecting that." Opening her eyes again, men from the village stood around her father, glaring at her as they got ready for a fight.

"You couldn't have been expecting just me," Akihiko grinned. "I'm sure you remember all your training all those years ago."

"How could I forget?" She frowned, glaring at them all. "You weren't expecting me to believe that you would be here alone, did you?"

"No but I hope you do know that we knew you wouldn't be by yourself." Akihiko told her. Satomi watched with a frown for a moment as a few men brought forward Haku, struggling to be let go; he received a hit to the face. "So, what now, Satomi?"

"Wow, somehow I keep forgetting that you'll act like a monster." She stared at Haku. She was expecting to see his face in worry but the look on her face told her something else. A grin spread across her mouth. "But you forgot something."

"Oh?" He tilted his head. "And what could that be?"

A crash sounded from the top of the building as a body fell down on them, knocking the ninja away from Haku and setting him free. Zabuza straightened to his full height and lifted his sword, glaring at the other man. "Me."

There was no other word, no other sound, before the fight broke out. Zabuza must have been closer to the hideout than she had thought for him to be here as quickly as he was. From the looks of it, the others were left behind. There was one question that Satomi placed in the back of her mind to ask later as she concentrated on the fighting. How did Zabuza know where to go?

"Get away from her!" Haku's voice was fierce, catching Satomi's attention. Blocks of ice formed in a circle around the enemy ninja, trapping them as his form reflected off of all of them like mirrors. ~That's right,~ Satomi commented to herself. ~Haku has Kekkei Genkai too. Just like me~

She ignored the cries and turned back to the men in front of her. These Villagers…they were monsters! Wounds appeared all over her. What could three do against this entire village? Maybe if it was just Satomi and Zabuza they would be fine, but Haku and Fumiko were here as well. That made everything else so much harder.

There was a fierce cry, grabbing Satomi's attention again as she kicked another ninja from her. Fumiko had been released from her cage somehow and had joined in on helping Haku with his group inside the Ice Mirrors.

These damn villagers kept popping up in endless heaps. Satomi bit her lip as some of them were even as young as the two children with them. She didn't want to fight them but something told her that they were treated like she had been when she was younger. The fear on their faces, some of them even had just blank soulless looks, told her that she was right.

Relief flooded through her as the ninja finally began to die down. She felt that everything was going good until her eyes finally caught sight of Zabuza towards the other side of the warehouse. Akihiko and some of the older ninja had gotten the upper hand on him. Fear spread threw her veins as she watched more blows land on Zabuza's body before Akihiko landed a few hits on him, knocking Zabuza back against the wall. She cried out his name as he slid to the floor, running to help him. She took care of the ninja, not noticing that Akihiko disappeared on her. She forgot that she left Haku and Fumiko open with that.

**"Get away from her!" **Satomi's voice rang through Zabuza's ears. He tried to move but found his body extremely heavy. There was a sound of a blow landing and a cry before a growl joined in, followed by another cry and something that sounded like a skidding across the ground. "Haku! Fumiko!" Satomi screamed again. "Leave them alone, you bastard!"

Someone else gave a few tsk's. "Satomi, poor thing. After all that I had done for you, you're still too weak. And after all this time I thought that you would have made me proud. It seems that my brother had been right."

"I don't care what you say!" Satomi growled. "I-" there was a sound of another blow and Satomi fell silent.

Blood was all over the place, as was sweat. Zabuza finally found enough strength to open his eyes. They grew wide in shock at the sight of the body beneath him; it was moments later that he realized that it was his. Kunai and shuriken were littered all over him, blood littering all over his clothes. At his feet was a massive broadsword shaped like a giant butcher knife. The Kubikiribocho, one of the swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Lifting his gaze, he felt what blood he had left run cold. They were in a dark warehouse, dead bodies all over the place. The only ones who didn't seem to be dead were Satomi, a redheaded man that stood over her, two young children towards the side of the warehouse and himself.

This was the dream that Zabuza constantly had. How he had seen this before, he didn't know, but he knew what was about to happen. He knew what he had to do.

Haku crawled to a bleeding Fumiko, pulling her head into his arms. There was nothing that the two of them could do anymore. Thankfully, only Akihiko was left now. Satomi was curled up on the other side of the warehouse at the feet of her father, holding her face as blood seeped through her fingers. She pulled herself away from him but the man stepped after her.

"I am truly disappointed in you, Satomi. I had thought that you would powerful. A weapon that I could use to take control. Something I could use to lead this village into glory! Instead you ran and turned into this weak little thing that I see before me. Pitiful thing. I must have used the wrong woman. Martia was weak and in the end it seems that you are too."

"Weak…" Satomi pushed herself to her feet, stumbling as she straightened herself up. "I am anything but weak…I may not want to be used as a weapon for the likes of you, you bastard, but I am not weak! If I were weak, I wouldn't have ran all those years ago! I would have stayed in that cage, continuing to go through what you were putting me through. If I were weak, I wouldn't have made it this far! If I were weak," As she continued to talk, Zabuza heard her voice grow louder and a small wind picked up at her feet. He remembered this. As the wind got stronger and stronger, Zabuza couldn't help but give a little smirk. He pushed his back against the wall behind him and pushed himself up weakly before leaning down and grabbing the blade. His feet were unsteady but he ran forward anyway, the blade in his hand as he headed towards the man while he was distracted by the woman in front of him. "If I were weak, then I wouldn't be able to kill you, father!"

Akihiko's attention was held by his daughter as her Kekkei Genkai began to destroy the warehouse; a fire caught up somewhere and began to spread like a forest fire. Zabuza's moves went unnoticed; until his sword came into contact with Akihiko's back. The man was sent flying, crashing through the wall of the warehouse and out into the burning village. Zabuza went to run forward but stumbled from his wound, nearly falling off his feet if he hadn't caught himself with the sword stabbed into the ground.

"Zabuza," Satomi moved towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He glared at her body as blood from the wounds continued to flow. If he could he would have taken her back home and taken care of her but he could barely move now. "Hurry up and finish this," He told her.

Nodding, Satomi stumbled out after her father, trying to wipe the blood and sweat from her eyes.

Akihiko glared at his daughter, trying to ignore his blood as the village continued to burn behind him. "Dammit, Satomi! Why? Why can't you just stop and do as I say?!"

Satomi blinked the blood from her face, the glare returning as she stared at the wounded man before her. "For my entire life you have haunted me; either in real life or my dreams. I refuse to let you stay any longer. I had given you years to just leave me be but you won't! Now you give me no other choice!" She spread her legs out; a look of horror crossed her father's face as the wind began to pick up again. "You will not leave me be by your own will so I will make it to where I can make you leave by myself!"

Zabuza watched as Satomi's Kekkei Genkai swirled around her again. It had to be the rest of her strength she was using and it was a good idea. Akihiko wasn't fast enough as the wind blades gave themselves another burst and caught him as he tried to run. He watched as the man's body turned into scraps before being released into the flames around them. A silent sigh of relief passed through his lips. Finally. All of this was over. They could return to the hideout and rest before continuing on as-

Satomi's body crumbled to the ground. Zabuza felt a shock of worry pass through him quickly. Using his sword as a cane, he made his way over to her, felling to his knees and picking her up into his arms.

"Is she all right?"

Glancing over his shoulder, he found Haku had moved up behind him, Fumiko's body hanging on his back. He turned back down to the woman in his arms. "She's fine," He answered him, watching her with a soft smile. "Just rest is needed. For all of us." He stood up carefully and placed his sword back on his back. Zabuza watched as Haku fixed Fumiko on his back, careful not to wake her back up. He gave a small smile as he carefully pulled Satomi into his arms. "Haku, let's go home."

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	18. Chapter 17

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

_**Chapter Seventeen**_

_**Papa**_

"**Mom! Get up!"**

Satomi had been in quite a nice place. An endless void, just floating there in peace and quiet. Nothing about her father or her past traveled through her. She truly, for once, felt like she was at peace.

Until the voice came. And then the hit. The hit of an 80 pound child jumping on her, trying to get her up.

"What the hell, Fumiko!?" Satomi jerked up from the hit. The child flew back a bit before jumping back up, flinging her arms around the older woman's neck. Satomi went to yell at her but caught herself, giving a small smile before hugging her back. She must have been worried. How long had it been since the fight with Akihiko? Was everyone all right? Glancing around, she found that she was in her room at the hideout. (Technically it was Zabuza's room but she had moved herself right on in. And not just on her own thoughts ;)) Glancing over to the side of the room she found Haku standing there with the Demon brothers. She smiled but then pulled a face as all three of them joined in on the pile on the bed.

"Still wounded," She breathed out beneath the pile.

"Like I said, Mom," Fumiko whispered into her ear. "My Aquarius."

Satomi closed her eyes for a moment, keeping the feel of that name as she remembered what Satomi had told her.

"_An Aquarius is a protector. It's a being who will go through lengths of pain and trials to protect those that mean the most to them. It's a being that would follow their most beloved ones into the pits of hell and back."_

Was this…was this how a mother was supposed to feel? Was a mother supposed to rush in, no matter what, and save their child? If this is what she missed as a child herself…then there was no way that she was going to leave Fumiko without it, either. She had gone through it once. She had a choice to move in where her mother hadn't. She didn't know what to do and it didn't matter. Fumiko was her child; just like Haku. Just like Gozu, and just like Meizu. All four of them were ones that she wanted to keep safe. They were all hers.

She sat there in bed, the four children around her, talking to her about everything that had happened. It had been a few days since the visit to the Gen Village. The entire place had been burnt down and the secret of Satomi's Kekkei Genkai was now spread through the entire hideout. The look of awe in Haku's eyes as he stared at Satomi made her flush a bit as Fumiko went on about the blades and other weapons that had formed from the wind that had saved her life.

The entire hideout had been worried about her, it seems, and hadn't left the house. Everyone had been sneaking a peek into the room as they passed by earlier until Zabuza locked them out of it. Gozu apparently stole the key from him and the four of them snuck in. Fumiko announced that she had been tired of waiting for her to wake up and decided to do it herself. Satomi rolled her eyes before giving a laugh.

"Well, I am truly glad that the two of you are still safe, too." She glanced and the brothers. "And as for you two, I am very, very impressed and proud. If you hadn't of found Zabuza so fast, I don't know what could have-"

Meizu held up his hand. "You don't need to say anything," He told her.

"Families are there for another, no matter what." Gozu finished.

~Family…~ She closed her eyes. ~That's the one thing that I've been looking for since I can remember, isn't it?~ She shook her head. ~Guess that I don't have to look no further~

"Yeah, well, he was still late!" Fumiko growled, crossing her arms. The children all had their backs to the door, not noticing as said man silently entered in behind them. "What was he, on a lunch break? He might not make it next time! We'll already have it done by then, right Haku?"

The boy twisted his fingers. "I…I don't know…"

Satomi tried to keep from laughing at them all as the four broke into an argument(Haku mostly just sat there as Fumiko and the Demon Brothers went off on their own).

"I'm telling you," Fumiko finally got tired of it. "Papa was late!"

They all looked at her; she pulled back, looking surprised at herself. "Papa?" The deep voice from behind asked. Fumiko froze and turned her head to peer at the man behind her, standing his against the wall by the door. Meizu and Gozu were out the window, leaving Haku to grab Fumiko's hand and yank her out the door behind him before another word could be shared. Satomi rolled her eyes as the door shut and slowly pushed herself up from the bed. Her body was still sore but she healed fast; she didn't even want to think about what she looked like.

"We are not a family." Zabuza growled, setting his sword against the wall as his mask continued to fall off. "They are my tools and nothing more."

Satomi frowned at him for a moment, remembering what her father had told Haku a few days before.

_"Children. You're so blind. The ones you believe that want to take care of you are only using you for their own goals." _

She shook her head and took a few closer steps to him, latching an arm around the back of his neck. "You say that, but you're just trying to be tough, Zabu." He gave her a look at the name but she ignored it. "You care for them just as much as I do, no matter what you say and make other people believe. One day, you'll admit. Just wait and see."

"Oh really?" Pulling the wrap away and letting it fall to the ground, he grinned at her. "And just what makes you say that?"

She touched her nose to his. "You." Zabuza pulled her closer to him, giving a little nibble on her neck. She pulled back with a giggle. "You're teeth are so sharp," Satomi told him, running a finger across his lips. "There's just something…sexy about that."

"And is that the only thing you find sexy about me?" He asked her.

She shook her head with a smile as he leaned her back into the wall. "Not at all."

They fell silent for a moment as kisses and feels exchanged before Zabuza pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. "Never again." He whispered.

"Never again what?" She asked him.

"Never again am I to leave your side," He told her. "When I saw you, laying there in your blood and wounded. When I watched him hit you. When I watched you fall. I was…I didn't…" She pulled her closer, a small smile on her face. "Never again. Anywhere I go, you go. If you stay, I stay."

"What are you going to do, stalk me?" Satomi teased him.

He glared at her. "I'm trying to be serious, Satomi."

"I know you are," She replied. "But you're just fine the regular way you are. As Haku and Fumiko get stronger, I won't have to stay behind. I'll be able to go with you anywhere."

He paused, thinking for a moment. "Then their training has to get harder quicker."

She gave him a look. "I don't know about that. Besides," She smiled, leaning in for a kiss. "Our kids are already pretty strong."

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	19. Epilogue, Part 1

**_Epilogue, Part 1_**

**_Orders_**

**The cave was crowded. **37 people stood there, chattering amongst themselves. Satomi found herself talking to a pair of old friends; Reina Saiko and Akemi Hanyu. Fumiko had run off to find Yuichi and Hisayo again.

"Eh, Kakashi's just received his new Squad so he's got his hands full at the moment."

"Oh really?" Reina raised a brow. "But didn't you just receive your own Squad?"

"Yeah, but mine are nowhere near as bad as his is. Uchiha and Uzumaki can't stand eachother and Haruno just has a think for the Uchiha. She may be smart but she's just…"

"Stupid?" Both Reina and Satomi commented.

Akemi gave a laugh. "Yeah, you can' say that. All girls in the school nowadays care about are boys, looks, and boys. We were never like that, where we?"

"Well, I can honestly say that I wasn't," Satomi gave a laugh scratching the back of her head. "18 years ago, I wasn't around other kids my age except for Zabuza so I'm not in that category."

"Ah, yes," Reina grinned. "The two of you have a thing for men with masks. What is it, a sex thing?"

"Well, at least we can have sex," Akemi and Satomi shared a look. "Your guy turned his body into a wooden puppet. Doing it with him is like using a toy."

Reina flushed but kept her cool. "Well, it's a good thing that I don't have sex with him then, isn't it?"

"Really?" Satomi asked her. "Never?"

"Not once." Reina assured them. "If I want it ever done then I want something NOT wood, understand?"

"I bet that pisses Sasori off. He may be wooden, but I bet his feelings are still there." Satomi replied.

"Yeah, he may act like they aren't, but he's still got them."

"I don't know," Akemi teased. "I've always wondered how he's put up with you."

"Hey!" The trio broke down into some more laughter as the door behind them all finally opened.

"And here, I must go," Akemi lowly told them, slipping off into the crowd; she was probably off to find her sister and her students.

~Still hasn't aged a day,~ Satomi sighed to herself. Out of the corner of her eye she found Fumiko, now 15, slid up beside her and Reina. ~Azumi, you are something else.~

"Akemi," Azumi's voice pulled the remaining voices to a silence. "Why do you deem it necessary to bring yet another set of your students here?"

Akemi gave a laugh. "Oh, come now. The fate of this world is in these little tykes. Why not put some on the winning side?" These were several chuckles through the group but the three children didn't seem amused. "Azumi, this is Okina Miyu, Yuriko Nao, and Chiako Bunko. Squad 3 of Konoha." Satomi couldn't see the children over the heads of the others so she just closed her eyes, listening to everything that was said.

"Your eyes," Yuriko spoke. "How do you have the Sharingan? Are you related to Sasuke?"

A sharp laugh came from the front of the group. "Azumi related to Sasuke Uchiha? Please. He could never amount to the power she has."

"Tamae," Azumi sighed.

"Tamae?" Okina spoke this time. "As in Tamae Kotone?"

"Oh, it looks like you have friends, Tamae." Another woman snickered.

"Shut up, Amaya, or I'll feed you to your little pet."

"Hey, leave shark-boy outta this!"

~Ha! Shark-boy,~ Satomi knew that it was Kisame Hoshigaki that they were talking about. Amaya was a bitch, but Kisame and she were perfect for eachother; he was the only man that could put up with her mouth. She wasn't too bad but Satomi couldn't handle her for too long while she was in certain moods.

From the sound of steps, Satomi got the idea that the girl, Yuriko, had lunged to attack Tamae but she didn't have to worry; Akemi would take care of her student.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "She and Itachi massacred the entire Uchiha Clan! They're brought Sasuke so much pain! They're murderers!" ~Well, I fit into that category.~ Satomi chuckled. She glanced down at Fumiko to find the same look on the girls face.

"That's right," Tamae smirked, crossing her arms. "And just what does a brat like you plan on doing about it?"

"Stop it, Tamae," Azumi's voice made the woman fall silent but her smirk didn't leave. "What has happened in the past means nothing through that barrier. If you cannot keep it to yourself within this village, then I shall send you back to the Leaf."

The child shot Tamae another look before nodding. Akemi gave a sigh of relief as Chiako decided to speak now. "Just…what is going on here? Where exactly have you brought us?" She asked their teacher.

"Kari," Azumi turned to her niece. "Take the children outside. We'll talk later."

The woman moved immediately, leading the three of them outside as Azumi moved towards the head of the Cave. "The rest of you don't have any surprises in-store for me, do you?" She watched as they all stayed silent. "A task has finally fallen into my lap."

"You mean, the Crescent Village has finally decided to make itself known?" A voice asked.

"I would rather it not, but seeming as how you fools will all be wearing the headbands that the Saiko sisters created, I really don't have a choice in the matter to say yes or no."

"What's going on, Azumi?" A quiet, male voice called out.

"As you recall a few years ago, there was a man in a mask here. I appreciate that those that knew about him didn't ask questions, but now the time for answers have come. He is going by the name of Tobi, and he has come forward, offering to help bring the Tailed beasts back to me."

"He's found a way?" Another voice asked.

"Indeed."

"How?"

"That is not on my agenda to reveal," Azumi replied. "The two of us have been working together. He's called forth for a few people to join with his own to help catch the Beasts."

"Only a few?" A few repeated. "Who? And what about the others?"

"The few that I have chosen will stay behind so I can speak to them. The others have a job of their own. While the others work, you will have to keep an eye on the other Beasts yourselves until they arrive to grab them." Azumi took a breath. "Everyone will have different Tails to watch and different times to do so to keep your villages or friends from knowing what you're doing. As for the ones that live in Konoha…you won't have to worry about keeping an eye on Kyuubi since you already know where he is at. Same as the four of you that live near Shukaku."

"You're actually serious about this, aren't you?" Azumi glanced at Hisayo. "You're going to get them back."

"Yes. For too long the ten of us have been separated. For too long have I searched for an answer just to not receive. One finally comes to me and so, I shall take it." Azumi turned to the carvings on the wall for a second before turning back to the people before her. "If any of you wish to back out now, you are free to do so. I will not make you go through with this. All I ask…is that you don't get in my way if the time ever comes around."

Things were silent for a moment before Reina took a step through the crowd to stop in front of the ageless woman. Satomi smiled.

"Azumi," Reina shook her head. "How can you ask us that? For years you have taken care of us. For those who have been banned from their villages you have given a home. For years you have protected us. You have set everything aside for us, keeping us from harm and treating us as family. You took me and my sisters in when we had nowhere else to go. You have saved multitudes of us from death or prison. My sisters and I were named as S-Ranked Criminals and still you took us in like we were no harm to you or the others. If you have a task you wish to be accomplished, all you need is ask. I will do all that I can to return everything that you have done for me and my sisters two-fold. And I will not stop until what you want has been given."

The young woman's words seemed to knock doubt from all the other's minds as agreement traveled through the cave. Azumi gave a pleased smile as she gazed out over the ones before her. "Thank you. I will come and see your groups in a moment while I discuss the task with the ones I've chosen. Everyone but the Saiko sisters, Hisayo, Yukari, Yuichi, Chie, Tamae, and Amaya can leave. Akemi, send Kari back in."

Fumiko didn't move as the room emptied. "Satomi, what does that mean we're going to do?"

"We're going back home, Fumiko. You heard her; we have to keep an eye on the two Tailed Beasts residing near us." Satomi answered her.

"But-"

"We're going back to Haku and Zabuza, Fumiko." Satomi smiled at her as she led the way outside. "Don't worry."

"All right."

Akemi was waiting outside with her students, giving Satomi a look at the three girls.

Chiaki Bunko was about 12 and at 5'3' in height. She had short blue hair and silver eyes as she was dressed in black pants and a jacket with metal rings on her fingers. Her Leaf Headband was nowhere to be seen.

Yuriko Nao, still wearing that glare on her face, was 12 as well at the height of 5'2' with short red hair with yellow eyes; a red hue could be seen. She was dressed in black as well, chains taking the place with skulls.

Okina Miyu, also 12 and at 5'2' in height, had long silver hair with a pair of green eyes as she wore a pair of black pants and a bright blue top and black sleeves. (Think something like Ten-Ten's, just with the sleeves.)

Fumiko hurried over to talk to the others close to her age as Satomi settled back into talking with Akemi. "Not worried now, are you?" She asked.

"About Tamae?" Akemi snorted. "Nah. I understand how Yuriko feels but she's mostly all talk so far."

Satomi smiled, watching as Fumiko's talking seemed to calm the said girl down. "So, any plans for them? This is what, your second Squad?"

"Yeah," Akemi nodded. "But Shinji and the other two are great here. Why not just go ahead a try a few more?" She fell silent for a moment. "from what I can see, Azumi's going to need all the help that she can get when the final days of getting her Beasts comes into play."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Lurena, my Hydra," Akemi mentioned her summon.

"What, can she see into the future?" Satomi raised a brow.

"No," Akemi shook her head. "But I've had her since I was 12. 14 years with her and you'll learn to trust her instincts. You should have been around when she tried to convince me that Kakashi and I would…" She fell silent, a light blush crossing her face.

Satomi tossed her head back, giving a laugh. "I understand how you feel. When I first met Zabuza and you tried to tell me that I was going to end up with him then I would have called you crazy."

Akemi gave a small smile. "Yeah, about that…" She rubbed her arm. "I'm not sure what it means but, keep a close eye on him, all right? Something's going to happen to you soon so I'm just giving you a warning incase it's something bad."

"Jeez, don't scare me now," Satomi sighed. She thought in worry for a moment before giving another smile. "We'll be fine. All four of us. Nothing can happen to break us all apart, no matter what."

Akemi smiled. "And one day, I hope that I can feel the same way about Kakashi and myself." She paused for a moment. "Hey later in the year, at around Halloween, you should come up here. It's just a few of us older women getting together for a little 'forget everything for a night'. I know that a couple of others are going to show up." She glanced at the girls. "16 and up only though, I'm afraid."

"A night to take a vacation from Zabuza and the others, hmm?" Satomi thought for a moment. "You got a deal!"


	20. Epilogue, Part 2

**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON****'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!**

_**Epilogue, Part 2**_

_**My Aquarius**_

"**You know, it's always misty around here."**

"It is called the Land of the Mist, you know."

"Be quiet."

Satomi giggled at the man beside her as they moved through the forest. The two of them were going out for the day to get a breath of fresh air away from their little friends in their hideout. Haku and Fumiko were out; gathering flowers and herbs again most likely. The others could take care of themselves, though. As they walked, Zabuza decided to explain to Satomi the mission he had taken on.

In order to gain funds for a second coup d'état(something that Zabuza could not give up over all these years) he had turned their group into mercenaries. While Satomi and Fumiko had been at the Crescent Village, Zabuza had been hired by a man named Gato to kill a bridge builder named Tazuna. He had sent the Demon Brothers off to take care of him themselves. They were now just waiting on their returning to get paid from Gato. Satomi hadn't been there but from what Haku had told her, Gato was a monster. She had heard about him before with drugs and other illegal things like that. She had even heard about some guy's death a few years ago in a village not too far away from their hideout.

"Here," Zabuza began, coming to a stop on a cliff. "The bridge has already been started, but we'll keep it from being finished."

"So, it stopped as Tazuna ran off to the Leaf Village?" Satomi tilted her head at the half built bridge. "Can he not get people around here to help him?"

"Apparently not."

"Hell, he could have come asked us for help. All he had to do was look; it's easy to find us if you want to think about it."

"Too scared. After all, I am-"

"'Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist', yeah, yeah, I've heard it before. Didn't I make a comment before about hearing you say that for the rest of my life?" The man smirked beside her and then quietly turned back to the bridge below. Though he wore a mask, Satomi knew when something was bothering her man. "Zabu, what is it?"

"I've told you not to call me that," He growled.

"Yeah, and haven't I told you that it's not going to stop?" She placed a hand on his arm. "Seriously; what's wrong? If you've having second thoughts about doing this, I can-"

"No, it's not that," He shook his head. "I…I just," He gave a sigh. "Do you remember what you told me? All those years ago?" Zabuza began as they continued to stare at the bridge being built. "Monsters don't cry. Monsters don't feel. Can you still say that about me?"

Satomi stared at him for a moment before her mouth spread out into a smile. "You're not a monster, Zabuza. Not to me. Not to Fumiko, and not to Haku. To us, you are nothing more than our Aquarius." She watched as he turned to face her. She leaned forward and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as she felt his hand pass through her hair. "My Aquarius."

**Aquarius: A protector; someone who will go through the pain and trial to protect those that mean the most to them. One who would follow their most beloved ones into the pits of hell and back.**

**Please Review! I like to know what you all think :)**


	21. End, For now

And so, the ending to Aquarius has arrived. I am greatly pleased with the way it turned out and (sadly) can't wait to bring Zabuza and the others back in the anime. Dont worry, everything's gonna be a little different.

As for what's going to happen next, it's going to be Jiraiya's story, so get ready. you don't really see a bunch of stories about Zabuza OR Jiraiya so here's hoping that this one will be as good as Zabuza's was.

I hope to see you all again soon in another of my stories.

XOXO,

HiddenXEmotion


	22. Happy Halloween

**_Happy Halloween_**

**"Ahhh!"**

Reiko's scream made all of the others jump from the couch, trying to run away from the one that had grabbed her. Chiyo Etsu gave out a laugh as she closed her finger in her novel. "Priceless," She giggled.

Chiyu was a woman in her forties, though she didn't look like it, with long red hair in a braid to her waist and gray eyes. She was dressed in a kimono top of silver and red with a spider stretched across it with a pair of black pants and boots.

Reiko turned and slapped at her sister; it was dodged. "That's not funny, Reina!"

Reina, still laughing, pulled herself up from behind the couch and took a seat beside Satomi. The Mist ninja exchanged a high-five with her, still laughing herself.

"Where do you come up with these stories?" Akemi asked from her seat on the bed beside her sister. "I mean, I understand Jiraiya with his perverted stuff but you and your horror stories are just something else."

"Entertaining, too." Akane agreed with her sister. "Much better than Jiraiya's stories." Akane Hanyu had medium red hair pulled back with cat-like golden eyes. She was dressed in black pants with a white, long sleeved shirt with the image of a Phoenix instead of a Hydra like her sister's.

"Well," Chiyo smiled. "After all the things that I've seen over the years, it's not too hard to believe."

"Is that right?" Tamae raised a brow. Tamae Kotone was in her early twenties with long black hair and stoic, grey eyes as she wore red and black clothes.

"You got a story to tell us about that?" Reina grinned.

"Please. A story about my life isn't something that you'll find to be interesting." Chiyo told them, setting her book aside for a moment as she reached out for the glass on the table beside her chair.

They were currently at the Crescent Village, taking over one of the houses that were there for them. Azumi was in her own house with Kari. They had been with them for a little while before the niece and aunt left to talk amongst themselves about what had happened recently with Orochimaru and the Akatsuki.

"Aww, why not?" Reiko leaned back on the couch beside Tamae. "There's nothing else to do. Why not tell us your story in meeting Jiraiya. It couldn't have been a 'love at first sight'. He's an idiot!"

Chiyo gave off a laugh. "Well, not at first. Jiraiya may act like a fool but he's quite smart. In fact, he didn't completely act like the way he does now all those years ago. Ask Hisayo and Yuichi. They were with Pein and Konan when we first met them."

"Then tell us," The Hanyu sisters said together.

"Don't be scared, Chiyu." Satomi teased her.

The older woman closed her eyes. "All right, fine. Just don't judge me." They all watched as she sighed. "I was about eight when all of this started…"


	23. Next In Line

So, Jiraiya's story, Glory Of Love, has finally started. I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry! Enjoy!


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